Paul Dunne battled hard on a difficult Saturday at the Made in Denmark to sit four shots off the lead heading into the final round.
The Greystones man began at four under par and hoping to push up the leaderboard on moving day but he had to be content with a one under par third round of 70 in difficult conditions.
Two bogeys in his first seven holes saw Dunne drop back but he rallied to birdie the ninth, 14th and 15th to finish the day at five under and in a tie for eighth, four behind leader Bernd Wiesberger.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre fired an excellent 68 in some of the toughest conditions of the week to sit just one off the lead.
The 22-year-old moved to eight under thanks to five birdies on day three but will need to get past four-time European Tour winner Wiesberger if he is to claim a first title on a top-tier tour.
MacIntyre finished second at the British Masters two weeks ago to ease any tensions about retaining his playing privileges and is now focused on claiming a second victory as a professional in just his 15th European Tour event.
“It’s something that I’ve always wanted to do — win on the European Tour,” he told europeantour.com.
“Now that I’ve secured my card for next season, it gives me the freedom that there’s nothing to lose so I’ve just got to get out there and try and get it.”
Playing alongside Wiesberger, MacIntyre sandwiched a bogey on the third with birdies on the second and fifth as his more experienced playing partner picked up shots on the first, fifth, seventh and eighth.
Bogeys on the ninth and 10th saw Wiesberger slip back but he made a hat-trick of gains from the 12th to establish a three-shot lead.
MacIntyre birdied the 11th and bogeyed the 12th before further gains on the 14th and 15th had him within two, and a closing bogey from Wiesberger meant it was all to play for in the final round.
Austrian Matthias Schwab and German Max Schmitt were at seven under, a shot clear of England’s Oliver Wilson, Frenchman Romain Langasque and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal.
A third round of 70 moved Gavin Moynihan up to a tie for 31st at one under while Michael Hoey is back at two over after a 74.
Made in Denmark scoreboard after round three (British and Irish unless stated, par 71):
204 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 69 67
205 Robert Macintyre 67 70 68
206 Max Schmitt (Ger) 68 70 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 68 66 72
207 Oliver Wilson 68 71 68, Romain Langasque (Fra) 69 66 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 68 71 68
208 Paul Dunne 68 70 70, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 66 69 73, Matthew Southgate 66 73 69
209 Richie Ramsay 72 69 68, Espen Kofstad (Nor) 68 72 69, Scott Jamieson 70 70 69, Lee Westwood 70 73 66
210 Lasse Jensen (Den) 72 69 69, Paul Waring 66 75 69, Richard McEvoy 72 71 67, Chris Paisley 68 71 71, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 71 72 67, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 69 74 67, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 70 70, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 66 73 71
211 Stuart Manley 69 70 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 71 70 70, Grant Forrest 70 71 70, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 67 72 72, John Catlin (USA) 67 74 70, Louis De Jager (Rsa) 68 75 68, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 71 72 68, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 70 67 74
212 Gavin Moynihan 74 68 70, Alexander Bjork (Swe) 68 70 74, Thomas Detry (Bel) 72 69 71, Aaron Rai 74 68 70
213 Andrew Johnston 68 74 71, Nick Cullen (Aus) 73 69 71, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 70 73 70, Oliver Fisher 68 71 74, Martin Simonsen (Den) 71 68 74, Kim Koivu (Fin) 70 72 71, Andy Sullivan 73 68 72, Jeff Winther (Den) 73 67 73, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 74 68 71, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 70 71 72
214 Matt Wallace 67 73 74, SSP Chawrasia (Ind) 70 71 73, Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 70 72 72, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 72 73, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 67 74 73, Guido Migliozzi (Esp) 70 71 73, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 70 68 76, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 68 71 75, David Drysdale 68 73 73, Tom Murray 66 75 73, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 70 73 71
215 Robert Rock 70 72 73, Jamie Donaldson 71 70 74, David Horsey 69 73 73, James Morrison 69 71 75, Michael Hoey 68 73 74, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 71 73
216 Kristian Krogh Johannessen (Nor) 68 72 76, Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 72 71 73, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 67 75 74, Joel Girrbach (Swi) 71 69 76
217 Mathias Gladbjerg (Den) 69 72 76, Morten Orum Madsen (Den) 72 71 74
218 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 72 68 78, Ben Evans 75 67 76, Ivan Cantero Gutierrez (Esp) 73 70 75, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 69 72 77, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 71 71 76
219 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 72 70 77, David Law 74 69 76
