Pádraig Harrington shot right back into contention at the KLM Open in the Netherlands on Saturday after a six-under 65 moved him to 10 under and three shots off leader Chris Wood.
Harrington carded eight birdies over The Dutch course, with bogeys at the eight and the closing hole, where he made a six on the par five. The Dubliner sits alongside Scotland's David Drysdale in a share of sixth position ahead of the final round.
Wood will take a one-shot lead into the final round after the Englishman came home in 31 to sign for a 65 and edge ahead of countryman Jonathan Thomson, Japan's Hideto Tanihara and China's Wu Ashun.
The 2016 Ryder Cup star has three wins on the European Tour but a fourth looked a long way off as he bogeyed the second to sit six shots behind early leader Thomson in Spijk.
A lay up and an excellent pitch into the par-five sixth started the comeback and he played the 13th, 15th and last in similar fashion, adding further birdies on the seventh, 10th and 12th to get his nose in front.
“I’m pleasantly surprised,” he told europeantour.com. “My target was 15 under for the tournament so I’m going to look a little bit differently at that now. I’ll take another 65 tomorrow if you offer it me now.”
Thomson made a blistering start with four birdies in his first six holes but bogeys on the 10th and 13th stalled his momentum before he hit back with a gain on the 15th.
Tanihara was bogey-free as he equalled the lowest round of the week with a 63, while overnight leader Wu needed two birdies in his last five holes to fire a level-par 71.
England’s Richard McEvoy was at 11 under after a 64, a shot clear of Harrington and Drysdale.
THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD
(British and Irish unless stated, par 71, (x) denotes amateur)
200 Chris Wood 65 70 65
201 Ashun Wu (Chn) 64 66 71, Jonathan Thomson 69 64 68, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 68 70 63
202 Richard McEvoy 67 71 64
203 David Drysdale 69 65 69, Pádraig Harrington 68 70 65
204 Andrew Sullivan 71 68 65, Thomas Detry (Bel) 74 67 63
205 Haotong Li (Chn) 68 66 71, Jordan Smith 66 71 68
206 Steve Webster 69 70 67, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 67 71 68, Matthew Baldwin 70 67 69, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 69 71 66, Andrea Pavan (Ita) 66 71 69, Erik Van Rooyen (Rsa) 73 66 67, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 66 69 71, Bradley Dredge 70 67 69
207 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 66 73 68, Daniel Im (USA) 72 66 69, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 69 69 69, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 70 67 70, Eddie Pepperell 66 72 69, Austin Connelly (Can) 68 70 69, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 68 69 70
208 Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 68 71 69, Sam Brazel (Aus) 69 71 68, Soomin Lee (Kor) 68 67 73, Josh Geary (Nzl) 72 69 67
209 Richard Bland 70 70 69, Lucas Herbert (Aus) 70 70 69, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 67 71 71, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 68 71, Justin Walters (Rsa) 69 72 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 71 68, Matthew Southgate 66 72 71, Paul Peterson (USA) 68 69 72
210 Jason Scrivener (Aus) 66 73 71, Matthew Nixon 67 72 71, Ashley Chesters 66 71 73, Alexander Levy (Fra) 69 68 73
211 Matteo Manassero (Ita) 67 72 72, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 74 67 70, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 71 66 74, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 67 73 71, Renato Paratore (Ita) 66 70 75, Simon Khan 70 71 70, Scott Jamieson 73 68 70, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 68 73, Max Albertus (Ned) 69 71 71, Connor Syme 69 70 72, Adrian Otaegui (Esp) 69 72 70
212 Nino Bertasio (Ita) 66 72 74, Johan Edfors (Swe) 70 70 72, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 73 71
213 Chase Koepka (USA) 69 71 73, Kevin Stadler (USA) 66 74 73, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 67 70 76, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 73 68 72, Bradley Neil 66 71 76, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 69 70 74
214 Mark Reynolds (Ned) 73 68 73, George Coetzee (Rsa) 69 69 76, Lee Westwood 68 71 75, Henric Sturehed (Swe) 67 72 75
215 Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 67 72 76, Adam Bland (Aus) 69 70 76, Richie Ramsay 68 73 74, Sam Horsfield 69 69 77, Matthew Jordan 70 70 75, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 70 71 74
216 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 69 71 76
217 David Horsey 69 72 76
