Bangor's Jonathan Caldwell closed with two bogeys in his third round at the Scandinavian Mixed in Gothenburg but remains in contention going into the final round.
Caldwell, who celebrated his 37th birthday on Thursday, made a brilliant start to his third round, with four birdies in five holes on his front nine, another birdie on the 10th getting him to 12 under for the tournament.
He dropped his first shots of the day on the par-four 13th with a double bogey but clawed one of those shots back with a birdie on the par-five 16th before the two closing bogeys saw him sign for a two-under 70.
That left Caldwell on nine under for the tournament and in a share of 10th position, three behind a four-strong group of leaders that included local hero Caroline Hedwall, who had led overnight coming into the third round.
Hedwall made a bogey-bogey start but pulled herself back to one under for the day after 13 holes before making a double bogey on the 17th after finding water off the tee.
Wales' Rhys Enoch, England's Alice Hewson and Australian Jason Scrivener share the lead with Hedwall on 12 under.
The event – hosted by Annika Sorenstam and Henrik Stenson – is a first on the European Tour as it features 78 men and 78 women competing on the same course for one prize fund and one trophy.
Hewson fired a 69 on day three while Enoch fired a 66 after going out in the very first group of the day. Scrivener also carded a 66 in calmer conditions on what developed into a very windy day in Gothenburg.
Hewson has a Ladies European Tour win to her name at the 2020 South African Women’s Open but she did not look likely to be challenging the men as she was level par for her round after 14 holes with three birdies and three bogeys.
But a hat-trick of gains from the 15th saw her fly up the leaderboard and she admitted there would be nerves when she goes out alongside Hedwall in the penultimate group on Sunday.
“It was a lot of fun out there,” she said. “It was really really tough, it has been windy all day and I got off to a bit of a slow start, so I’m really happy.
“I think tomorrow I will probably be a bit nervous, especially on the first tee. We will try to stay relaxed and just one shot at a time and whatever happens happens.”
Enoch turned in 35 but made back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth before draining an eagle from 20 feet on the sixth and grabbing another gain on the ninth.
“I think more of the same tomorrow, I learnt a bit today about how I have been playing and I try a bit too hard sometimes,” he said. “On days like this when you have to swing free, it just shows what’s there and I just need to go out there with the same attitude tomorrow.”
Scrivener started his day with an eagle on the 10th and added birdies on the 13th, 14th, third, fourth and sixth before dropping his only shot on the eighth.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 72
204 Alice Hewson 68 67 69, Caroline Hedwall (Swe) 67 64 73, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 70 68 66, Rhys Enoch 71 67 66
205 Scott Hend (Aus) 69 67 69, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 71 68 66, David Drysdale 67 68 70, Ashley Chesters 65 70 70, James Morrison 70 67 68
207 Sanna Nuutinen (Fin) 68 69 70, Joachim B Hansen (Den) 69 67 71, Oliver Wilson 72 65 70, Jonathan Caldwell 70 67 70
208 Stephanie Kyriacou (Aus) 68 66 74, Olivia Cowan (Ger) 68 67 73, Karolin Lampert (Ger) 68 68 72, Wil Besseling (Ned) 68 70 70
209 Christine Wolf (Aut) 64 72 73, Linn Grant (Swe) 71 68 70, Vincent Norrman (Swe) 66 73 70, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 69 66 74, Kristoffer Broberg (Swe) 68 70 71, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 69 67 73, Sebastian Garcia (Esp) 69 69 71, Pedro Figueiredo (Por) 68 68 73, Pep Angles (Esp) 65 69 75
210 Emily Kristine Pedersen (Den) 70 67 73, Lina Boqvist (Swe) 67 69 74, Johanna Gustavsson (Swe) 68 72 70, Leonie Harm (Ger) 67 71 72, Ludvig Aaberg (Swe) 69 67 74, Steven Brown 65 68 77, Ashun Wu (Chn) 71 70 69, Joost Luiten (Ned) 67 65 78, Sam Horsfield 64 74 72, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 69 68 73, Richie Ramsay 67 73 70, Zander Lombard (Rsa) 70 67 73, Robert Rock 70 68 72, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 66 67 77
211 Maria Hernandez (Esp) 69 68 74, Alexander Bjoerk (Swe) 72 68 71, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 65 69 77, Jamie Donaldson 67 73 71
212 Nuria Iturrios (Esp) 70 67 75, Felicity Johnson 66 71 75, Karoline Lund (Nor) 68 71 73, Maja Stark (Swe) 72 68 72, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 75 66 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 70 70 72, Matthew Southgate 71 69 72, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 68 73, Aaron Cockerill (Can) 69 70 73
213 Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa) 72 68 73, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 69 71 73, Oliver Farr 66 74 73
214 Sarina Schmidt (Ger) 67 68 79, Carlos Pigem (Esp) 68 68 78
215 Pia Babnik (Slo) 68 66 81, Svn-Hwan Kim (USA) 68 71 76
216 Laura Fuenfstueck (Ger) 67 73 76, Elizabeth Young 70 71 75, Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra) 72 68 76, Aaron Rai 72 67 77
217 Magdalena Simmermacher (Arg) 68 70 79, Matthew Jordan 71 68 78
218 Jack Senior 68 71 79, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 70 69 79
219 Francesco Laporta (Ita) 69 72 78
220 Atthaya Thitikul (Tha) 70 68 82
225 Alison Muirhead 69 71 85
