Garrick Porteous will take a four-shot lead into the final round of the Prague Golf Challenge after a superb 64 on Day Three took him to 19 under par overall in the Czech capital.
Eight birdies and an eagle were mixed with a couple of bogeys but for most of Round Three the Englishman was supreme, clearly at ease as others faltered around Prague City Golf.
A highly-rated amateur, culminating in his Amateur Championship victory in 2013, Porteous has struggled so far in 2017, failing to make a cut on the Road to Oman until this week, but he has given himself the perfect chance to claim a maiden Challenge Tour title tomorrow.
“I guess it was a pretty perfect Moving Day,” said the 27 year old. “I got off to a good start, birdieing the first two, but it’s quite scoreable out there really – you’re hitting a lot of wedges and have got a lot of opportunities on the par fives.
“You’ve got to make your move when you can and I’ve done that in the last couple of days – I had a rough patch on the ninth today but after that I got back on the birdie train again which was nice.
“I had a little look at the leaderboard when I was on 13 and saw it was quite tight, but I made eagle there and was just feeling really comfortable all day.
“I’ve sort of struggled at the start of this year, I just really haven’t performed well. There’s been spells of good performances but I haven’t been able to put it together over four rounds so hopefully I’ll get the job done tomorrow.
“You can never control what other people are going to do but as long as I control what I’m doing I’ll hopefully be alright – it’ll just be more of the same, hope to get off to a hot start and take it from there.
“I don’t think I’ll be fazed by leading. I’ve won one pro tournament before and I’ve won amateur events so I know what it feels like – it’s good, it’s exciting.”
Trailing Porteous in a tie for second is the man who succeeded him as Amateur Champion, Bradley Neil, whose fine six under par round of 66 took him level with Christopher Mivis on 15 under par.
Robin Sciot-Siegrist is one shot further back in fourth, with Steven Brown, Julien Guerrier and Joachim B Hansen sharing fifth place on 13 under par.
Road to Oman Numbers One and Two Julian Suri and Aaron Rai both made moves too, each climbing into the top ten on 11 under par, just about within striking distance.
Scores after Round 3:
197 G Porteous (Eng) 66 67 64,
201 B Neil (Sco) 66 69 66, C Mivis (Bel) 69 67 65,
202 R Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 66 69 67,
203 J Guerrier (Fra) 65 68 70, J Hansen (Den) 66 69 68, S Brown (Eng) 65 69 69,
205 M Wiegele (Aut) 68 69 68, J Suri (USA) 71 68 66, J Lando Casanova (Fra) 68 67 70, M Schneider (Ger) 69 72 64, A Rai (Eng) 70 70 65, T Tree (Eng) 68 67 70,
206 R Santos (Por) 66 68 72, L Gagli (Ita) 68 71 67, B Easton (RSA) 65 69 72,
207 N Cullen (Aus) 68 71 68, C Sharvin (Nir) 72 67 68, T Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 68 70, O Lindell (Fin) 68 67 72, P Howard (Eng) 69 66 72, K Johannessen (Nor) 70 68 69,
208 D Fox (Aus) 68 69 71, R Van Der Spuy (RSA) 64 72 72, N Ravano (Ita) 72 69 67, M Iten (Sui) 71 69 68, B Hafthorsson (Isl) 69 67 72, S Tiley (Eng) 66 69 73, J Parry (Eng) 70 67 71, D Papadatos (Aus) 69 70 69,
209 P Oriol (Esp) 66 70 73, J Sarasti (Esp) 68 70 71, R Enoch (Wal) 65 67 77, R Saxton (Ned) 69 70 70, L Johnson (Eng) 69 67 73, J Pastor (Esp) 69 72 68, A Meronk (Pol) 73 63 73, C Koepka (USA) 71 69 69,
210 E España (Fra) 69 72 69, R Hjelm (Den) 69 71 70, G Kocken (Swe) 69 69 72, S Connor (Eng) 71 69 70,
211 D Huizing (Ned) 71 69 71, O Rozner (Fra) 68 70 73, J Harrison (Eng) 67 68 76, S Einhaus (Ger) 71 70 70, S Hutsby (Eng) 67 72 72, J Dantorp (Swe) 68 70 73, M Delpodio (Ita) 69 69 73, D Van Driel (Ned) 71 67 73, B Hellgren (Swe) 69 72 70,
212 J Senior (Eng) 68 73 71, E Dubois (Fra) 71 67 74, M Schwab (Aut) 69 69 74, L Galliano (Sui) 68 73 71, S Surry (Eng) 70 71 71, G King (Eng) 71 69 72, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 69 72 71,
213 H Casey (Eng) 72 69 72, A Saddier (Fra) 71 69 73, S Soderberg (Swe) 67 72 74, F Maccario (Ita) 73 68 72, H Joannes (Bel) 69 72 72, S Jeppesen (Swe) 71 70 72, A Tadini (Ita) 71 70 72,
214 T Ferrer (Esp) 70 69 75, P Valasek (Svk) 66 71 77,
216 J Arnoy (Nor) 69 71 76, T Linard (Fra) 67 71 78, S Fernandez (Esp) 70 71 75, C Braeunig (Ger) 74 67 75,
217 A Maestroni (Ita) 71 68 78
