Martin Kaymer was the big mover as he shot a third-round 66 to drag himself to within two shots of leader Justin Walters at the UK Championship.
Kaymer’s six under par took him to 10 under for the tournament as Walters doubled his slender advantage at the top of the leaderboard with a 69.
His was not the best score of the day at the Belfry, however, with Englishman Laurie Canter carding a 65 to ease to seven under.
Asked if he felt it was a 66 day when he went out in breezy conditions, the German said: “If you putt that way, yes. I was hitting the ball fairly fine over the last three days. I just needed one of those days where the putter is a little bit hot, and it was one of those days.”
Kaymer’s round, which left him tied in second place with Benjamin Hebert, included eight birdies, five of them on the back nine, although dropped shots at the sixth and the 12th denied him a share of the lead.
He said: “If you hit fairways, it was okay. They had some tricky pin positions, especially the front nine. Also on the front nine, you have some tough tee shots.
“Usually the fairways feel wide because there’s very little rough, so, even if you get in the rough, you still have a chance to get on the green without a problem.
“Overall, it was probably the toughest day even if they put some tee boxes — like on 10 — forward, but it was still tricky to create birdie chances sometimes with those tricky pin positions.”
Walters, however, remains in the box seat and is hoping to make the most of his opportunity on Sunday.
He said: “It would be huge, there’s no lying about that. I’m 39 now, you wonder how many opportunities you will get going forward with all the youngsters coming through.
“Maybe like a good red wine, I’ll get better with age, but I don’t know. It would be nice to take advantage tomorrow.”
Canter and compatriot Marcus Armitage were among a group of four men three shots further back heading into the final round.
On Friday Jonathan Caldwell made the weekend right on the cut mark, and his third round 70 now leaves him one under par overall. After recovering from a bogey on his second hole the Irishman birdied the fifth, 10th and 15th in a solid outing.
Third round scores and totals (British unless stated, par 72):
204 Justin Walters (Rsa) 64 71 69
206 Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 72 66, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 69 70
209 Marcus Armitage 70 68 71, Laurie Canter 71 73 65, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 69 73 67, Rasmus Hojgaard (Den) 73 69 67
210 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 68 74 68, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 72 68 70, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 71 71 68
211 Craig Howie 68 72 71, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 71 71 69, Andy Sullivan 70 72 69, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 71 67 73, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 67 71 73
212 Calum Hill 68 72 72, Graeme Storm 72 69 71, Martin Simonsen (Den) 74 70 68
213 Ben Evans 71 72 70, Matthew Jordan 69 69 75, Stephen Gallacher 69 76 68, Paul Waring 70 67 76, Darius Van Driel (Ned) 72 70 71, Scott Vincent (Zim) 67 72 74, Lee Westwood 70 71 72
214 Richard Bland 70 70 74, Haotong Li (Chn) 74 71 69, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 72 69 73, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 70 73 71, Dave Coupland 73 71 70
215 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 75 70, Matt Wallace 70 73 72, Richie Ramsay 75 70 70, Tom Gandy (IOM) 73 68 74, Steven Tiley 74 71 70, Aaron Rai 71 72 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 68 74 73, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 72 69 74, Jonathan Caldwell (Irl) 71 74 70
216 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 73 72 71, Julian Suri (USA) 68 71 77, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 70 70 76, (a) Garrick Higgo (Rsa) 70 71 75, Jack Senior 70 75 71, John Catlin (USA) 72 72 72
217 Marc Warren 69 73 75, Eddie Pepperell 74 70 73, Wilco Nienaber (Rsa) 69 72 76, Ross McGowan 74 68 75, James Morrison 75 70 72
218 Ross Fisher 68 73 77, Jeff Winther (Den) 69 73 76, David Horsey 71 72 75, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 75 69 74, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 74 71 73
219 Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 67 76 76
220 Damien Perrier (Fra) 73 71 76, David Dixon 68 76 76, Rhys Enoch 68 75 77, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 70 75 75, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 71 72 77
221 Liam Johnston 72 73 76, Jake McLeod (Aus) 71 71 79
223 Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 72 72 79
225 Zander Lombard (Rsa) 75 69 81
226 Lee Slattery 70 75 81
