Leader Angel Hidalgo and three-time champion Jon Rahm played themselves into an all-Spanish final group at the acciona Open de España.
The pair will play Sunday’s round alongside compatriot David Puig, with all three under par by double figures as Hidalgo leads by two strokes on 13 under after a 68.
Rahm played much of the round without his damaged driver but birdied two of the last three holes to reach 11 under, with Puig a further shot back as both carded 65s.
Hidalgo missed an eight-foot putt at the 2nd but holed from 26 feet at the next before another birdie at the 4th.
He bogeyed the 12th but again hit back at the next and gained another stroke via a delightful controlled approach to the 15th.
A closing right-to-left putt for birdie sparked a pair of intense fist-pumps and a chest-bump with his caddie as he went into Sunday two clear.
“After the short putt I missed on 12, I played great golf, I think. Three under in the back part of the course is pretty good,” he said.
“Normally my caddie reads the lines with me and on the last one, I saw Jon’s putt on 18 – I was on the 17th green – and I saw the ball break a lot. I said to my caddie, ‘I putt this one’, and it was a good stroke.
“I know David really well, I played with him when I was young. Jon, what can I say? He’s the GOAT in this tournament. I can’t wait to arrive at the first tee tomorrow.”
Rahm needed repairs to his driver after experiencing issues with it early in his round.
The club was returned to him on the 14th, just after the fourth of his six birdies on the day, and he used it to good effect to set up a 120-yard approach into the 16th which kicked hard off the right edge of the green and ran perfectly down towards the cup.
That led to a birdie and another at the 18th put him one off the lead until Hidalgo responded in kind.
He insisted the absence of his driver “didn’t really affect me too much” but added: “I was happy to hear on 12 that I was going to have it by 14. I think it might have been a little moment of happiness that gave me a boost for the rest of the round.”
Looking ahead to Sunday, he said: “I’m very excited. I have yet to be paired with [Puig] in any tournament, I’m glad our first time is going to be here in the final group.
“Hopefully I can end up with the win but it’s definitely going to be a Sunday atmosphere-wise that they haven’t experienced yet. There’s going to be a lot of people watching, and it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
Puig had six birdies and has gone 34 holes since his last bogey.
Speaking before Hidalgo and Rahm had completed their rounds, he said: “I was super steady, bogey-free and made putts.
“Super excited for tomorrow, I think it’s going to be unreal if we have that group.”
England’s Joe Dean and American Patrick Reed share fourth place at eight under, with Sweden’s Jens Fahrbring and another Spaniard in Adri Arnaus a shot further back.
Dean responded to a first dropped shot at the 11th with a third eagle in two days, a 168-yard hole-out from the 12th fairway – and went close to a repeat at the very next hole.
He carded a 69 while Reed, playing with Rahm and Sam Bairstow, shot 68.
Fahrbring, whose 70 on Friday included a hole-in-one on the 11th, mixed eight birdies with two bogeys in a 65 while Arnaus shot 68.
South Africa’s Jayden Schaper shared ninth position on five under after carding 65.
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Stuart Franklin/Getty Images
