Jesper Svensson gave himself a one-shot lead to take into the final round of the FedEx Open de France.
A 67 on Saturday took the Swede to 13 under par, narrowly ahead of Thorbjørn Olesen and Sam Bairstow who will join him in Sunday’s final group at Le Golf National.
Bairstow’s fellow Englishmen Dan Bradbury and Joe Dean were a further shot back.
Justin Harding was the best-placed South African on eight under (T15) after a round of 68 that included four birdies and a bogey.
Svensson shared the lead after each of the first two days and was quickly out of the blocks on Saturday with birdies at the 1st, 3rd, 4th and 6th.
After six pars in a row, he picked up another shot at the 13th as his approach from the rough only just cleared the water and he drained the 10-foot putt.
Bradbury also birdied that hole after hitting his approach inside two feet, a third in succession after going within three inches of a hole-out eagle at the 12th.
The Englishman bogeyed the 15th after finding the water, though, to leave himself two off the lead.
Svensson bogeyed the 17th but after hitting 16 of the 18 greens in regulation, he said: “I hit the ball really well all day, a lot of good looks, hit a lot of good putts – it was a good day.
“A lot of putts slid past, hopefully they’ll drop tomorrow.”
The 28-year-old DP World Tour rookie won the Porsche Singapore Classic earlier in the season and was second at August’s D+D Real Czech Masters, his third runner-up finish of the season.
“Singapore was a great week and so far this has been a great week as well,” he said. “All you want is to have a chance tomorrow on 18.”
Bairstow’s only birdie of the front nine came at the 1st hole but he made his move quickly after the turn with back-to-back gains.
A wonderful chip-in eagle at the 14th and a birdie to follow saw him to a second straight 65 and a 12-under-par total.
“Just solid,” he said of his round. “Front nine was very smooth and I just holed a few putts on the back nine. Hopefully keep it going and hopefully another one.”
Olesen carded four birdies in an unblemished round, the last coming at the 17th in a three-four finish – in both cases, two shots better than a costly end to Friday’s round.
“Yeah, was a little bit annoyed with that finish obviously yesterday,” he said. “It was nice today to come out on those last few holes and play them one under.
“I think my putting was pretty consistent all day. Holed some good putts down the front nine and then obviously that one on 17 was really important.”
Dean had six birdies and only one bogey in a 66 to join Bradbury, who finished with a 69, at 11 under.
Gunner Wiebe joined the group at 10 under with a fine 65. He hit three birdies on his way out and, after giving one back at the 9th, picked up four more on the back half.
Sharing sixth place with him were Simon Forsström, Matthew Jordan, Yannik Paul and Francesco Laporta.
Wiebe’s fellow American Johannes Veerman raced up the leaderboard with a 63, matching the best round of the week, to climb to nine under for the week and a share of 12th place with Rasmus Højgaard, Fabrizio Zanotti and Gavin Green, whose slam-dunk eagle at the 14th was one of the highlights of the day.
Sixteen-year-old Lev Grinberg, the only amateur to make the cut, had a third round of par or better to sit at six under despite a seven at the 15th, where he hit two balls into the water.
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Warren Little/Getty Images
