Pádraig Harrington will go into tomorrow’s final round of the Portugal Masters one shot behind joint-leaders Anders Hansen and Mikko Korhonen after a third round 67 left him on 17 under par at Vilamoura.

Overnight leaders Andy Sullivan (-16) and Marc Warren (-15) slipped back somewhat as Harrington surged into the lead on his own through the front nine.

Birdies at the first, sixth, eighth and ninth gave the three-time major winner a one shot lead and he then doubled that advantage at the 10th with another birdie.

However, after finding water at the 11th with his tee shot, he wound up making a bogey to reduce the gap and then, despite birdieing the 12th, fell out of the lead with another bogey at the 14th.

Meanwhile Denmark’s Hansen was putting together the round of the day – a nine under 62 – a few groups ahead to take the clubhouse lead.

He was joined by Korhonen who shot a very impressive 64 as he deals with the pressure of trying to keep his card for next season.

Harrington managed to make a good up-and-down for par at the last to go into tomorrow’s final round at 17 under and was suitably pleased with his efforts when speaking to Sky Sports afterwards.

“I’m happy with that. When I got it through 10 holes as I did I would have liked to push on a bit and take a lot of guys out of contention tomorrow. I didn’t and I’ve got to push on and play well tomorrow,” he said.

“It’d definitely less stressful if you’re behind and get some momentum. Whereas if you’re leading a tournament you’ve always got one eye on where you are.”

He will go out in the penultimate group tomorrow chasing his first European Tour win since the 2008 US PGA Championship.