Jeff Winther carded three closing birdies in a bogey-free 62 to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Mallorca Golf Open.
The Dane had started his week with a 62 and he matched that score on day three – sandwiching a second-round 71 fired in more difficult, windy conditions – to get to 15 under.
Spaniard Jorge Campillo was at 13 under, a shot clear of countryman Alvaro Quiros and Swede Sebastian Söderberg.
Winther birdied the second, fifth and seventh to get into a seven-way tie for the lead and added further gains at the 10th and 11th as he kept pace with Campillo and Söderberg.
The 33-year-old then put an approach to seven feet on the 16th and holed 20-foot putts on the last two holes to jump out in front as he looks for a first European Tour victory.
Winther has not led into the final round at a European Tour event before and the world number 307 – who has his family with him in Spain this week – believes controlling his emotions could be crucial over the final 18 holes.
“Going home to the place we are staying with the kids will definitely remove every focus on golf there is,” he said.
“It’s more the nerves on course tomorrow that I will have to try to keep in check. Let’s see if Stretch [caddie Ian More] is as good as my old caddie says he is.
“It was lovely today, Jorge and I putted really well and just kept making birdies and birdies, it was almost a little competition between us.”
Campillo carded a 64, a score matched by Söderberg who finished second at last week’s Andalucia Masters, while seven-time European Tour winner Quiros signed for a 65.
Bangor's Jonathan Caldwell carded a one-under 69 to get to four under and a share of 30th position going into the final round, but fellow Down golfer Cormac Sharvin could only manage a two-over 72 to slip back to three over.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 70
195 Jeff Winther (Den) 62 71 62
197 Jorge Campillo (Esp) 64 69 64
198 Sebastian Söderberg (Swe) 66 68 64, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 64 69 65
199 Pep Angles (Esp) 65 70 64
200 Matthias Schmid (Ger) 64 70 66, Sebastian Garcia (Esp) 66 67 67, Bryce Easton (Rsa) 63 67 70
201 Jack Senior 68 67 66
202 Aaron Cockerill (Can) 66 68 68
203 Renato Paratore (Ita) 68 71 64, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 65 70 68, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 63 71 69
204 Joachim B Hansen (Den) 67 72 65, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 65 72 67, Andrew Johnston 66 71 67, Oliver Wilson 68 71 65, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 66 71 67, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 67 70 67, Robin Roussel (Fra) 68 67 69, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 67 71 66, Laurie Canter 68 66 70, Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 67 67 70
205 Richard Mansell 70 64 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 68 68 69, Scott Hend (Aus) 71 68 66, Ashun Wu (Chn) 66 69 70, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 68 68 69, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 65 73 67
206 Jonathan Caldwell 66 71 69, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 67 68 71, Adrien Saddier (Fra) 66 71 69, Clement Sordet (Fra) 73 66 67
207 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 73 67, Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger) 71 70 66, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 67 71 69, Gavin Green (Mal) 68 69 70, Damien Perrier (Fra) 70 68 69, Jordan Wrisdale 68 73 66
208 Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 70 68, Sean Crocker (USA) 67 72 69, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 67 73 68, Louis de Jager (Rsa) 69 71 68, Rhys Enoch 66 73 69
209 Eddie Pepperell 66 73 70, Ignacio Elvira (Esp) 67 70 72, John Catlin (USA) 67 73 69, Romain Langasque (Fra) 67 70 72, Adria Arnaus (Esp) 71 70 68, Oliver Farr 68 73 68, Connor Syme 66 73 70, Dale Whitnell 68 73 68, Garrick Porteous 69 71 69, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 71 70 68, Josh Geary (Nzl) 67 71 71, Jacobo Pastor (Esp) 66 71 72
210 Ondrej Lieser (Cze) 70 71 69, Ross McGowan 70 71 69, Soeren Kjeldsen (Den) 69 71 70, Joel Stalter (Fra) 70 71 69, Matthew Jordan 69 70 71, Rikard Karlberg (Swe) 67 73 70, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 68 70 72, Zhengkai Bai (Chn) 66 75 69
211 Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 72 69 70, David Howell 71 70 70, Svn-Hwan Kim (USA) 70 70 71
212 Joel Sjoeholm (Swe) 65 73 74, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 65 74 73, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 67 72 73
213 Matthew Southgate 70 71 72, Cormac Sharvin 71 70 72
