Chris Wood fired an excellent 65 to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the KLM Open at The Dutch.
The Englishman had fallen off the pace with two bogeys on the back nine on Friday and another on the second in round three threatened to derail his week but he fought back brilliantly with seven birdies in 13 holes to get to 13 under.
Japan’s Hideto Tanihara matched the course record with a 63 to sit a shot off the lead alongside England’s Jonathan Thomson and China’s Wu Ashun.
Another Englishman in Richard McEvoy was then at 11 under, one shot clear of Scot David Drysdale and three-time Major Championship winner Padraig Harrington.
Wood is a three-time winner on the European Tour and is looking to get over the line after finishing second twice this season at the NBO Oman Open and HNA Open de France.
‘I’m pleasantly surprised,’ he said. ‘I finished poorly last night and as I alluded to, I’m making a couple of quite big swing changes at the moment.
‘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 and Tanihara are both looking for a first win in their first full seasons on Tour, while two-time winner Wu arrived in Spijk full of confidence after a top ten at last week’s Omega European Masters.
In-form South African Erik van Rooyen carded a third round 67 that included eight birdies with his run of five in six holes following his drop at the second. He then rattled off three in a row after a drop at the 11th before closing with his fourth bogey of the day to fall back into the back sharing 12th.
That pack also includes countryman Haydn Porteous, who signed for a 68 on Saturday. They start Sunday six back.
