Dane Rasmus Hojgaard carded a brilliant course-record 62 to open up a three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Cazoo Classic in England.
The 20-year-old has been a revelation since becoming the first player born in the 21st century to come through the European Tour’s qualifying school in 2019, claiming two wins before the age of 20 in his rookie season.
He started the day at London Golf Club in Kent six shots off the lead but made 10 birdies in a bogey-free round to get to 14 under and lead the way from England's Jordan Smith and Scot Calum Hill.
Smith made five birdies in a row from the third on the front nine as he got to 14 under but he came home in 39 to sign for a 70.
There was no such wobble from Hojgaard, who made six birdies on the front nine to join the lead and four more coming home – including on the 17th and 18th – to take control.
“I didn’t have any clue what the course record was,” he said. “I knew I was probably around it but I didn’t know what it was.
“I drove the ball way better today than I did in the first couple of days. So I was putting myself in position and I could be aggressive from the fairway, holed putts from everywhere basically and then I had a spell on the back nine where I was really stressed.
“We were on the clock so I probably rushed a couple of shots but then I finished strongly so I’m very happy.”
Hill was bogey-free but managed just two birdies on the ninth and 13th in his 70 to sit a shot ahead of England's Richard Bland and Dale Whitnell.
“Tomorrow, I need to be fractionally more lucky on the par fives, because I had rough breaks on all of them today and didn’t manage to birdie one of them,” said Hill. “And then if I make two more putts I will shoot eight under and win it by about three!”
Scottish pair David Drysdale and Richie Ramsay and Wales' Jamie Donaldson were then in the group at nine under alongside Ryder Cup hopeful Victor Perez and Dutchman Lars Van Meijel.
Dubliner Niall Kearney made thre birdies in his first six holes but a bogey on the par-five eighth and a double-bogey six on the 14th slowed his progress as he signed for a one-under 71 to move to seven under and a share of 19th position.
Jonathan Caldwell slipped back to level par after he shot a 74 in his third round.
Leaderboard
British and Irish unless stated, par 72
202 Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den) 71 69 62
205 Jordan Smith 66 69 70, Calum Hill 68 67 70
206 Richard Bland 65 71 70, Dale Whitnell 66 68 72
207 Victor Perez (Fra) 70 69 68, Richie Ramsay 70 70 67, David Drysdale 68 72 67, Jamie Donaldson 72 69 66, Lars van Meijel (Ned) 73 68 66
208 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 68 71 69, Callum Shinkwin 70 70 68, Andy Sullivan 74 67 67, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 71 67 70, Ashley Chesters 70 68 70, James Morrison 70 71 67, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 69 69, Daniel Young 68 71 69
209 Jorge Campillo (Esp) 71 71 67, Alexander Levy (Fra) 70 73 66, Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 70 71 68, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa) 69 69 71, David Horsey 73 69 67, Niall Kearney 68 70 71
210 Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 67 71 72, Joachim B. Hansen (Den) 69 70 71, Kalle Samooja (Fin) 71 69 70, Maximilian Kieffer (Ger) 68 71 71, Maverick Antcliff (Aus) 68 68 74, Yi-Keun Chang (Kor) 72 69 69, Ben Evans 70 67 73, Bryden MacPherson (Aus) 74 67 69
211 Matt Ford 68 71 72, Stephen Gallacher 72 66 73, Svn-Hwan Kim (USA) 66 73 72, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 67 75 69, Lee Slattery 74 69 68, Rhys Enoch 69 65 77
212 Jonathan Thomson 72 70 70, Matthew Southgate 70 71 71, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 71 70 71, Oliver Wilson 72 68 72, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 72 67 73, Justin Walters (Rsa) 70 73 69, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 74 69 69, Wil Besseling (Ned) 69 72 71, Clement Sordet (Fra) 69 73 70, Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den) 72 70 70
213 Eddie Pepperell 71 72 70, Toby Tree 69 69 75, Anton Karlsson (Swe) 70 73 70
214 Julian Suri (USA) 74 69 71, Ross Fisher 76 67 71, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 69 73 72, Darius van Driel (Ned) 70 70 74
215 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 68 72 75, Matthew Jordan 73 68 74
216 Jonathan Caldwell 70 72 74, John Catlin (USA) 68 72 76, Joel Stalter (Fra) 67 74 75, Berry Henson (USA) 70 72 74, Paul Peterson (USA) 69 70 77
217 Ross McGowan 72 70 75, Robin Sciot-Siegrist (Fra) 70 72 75, Bradley Dredge 73 70 74
218 Sami Valimaki (Fin) 72 71 75, Garrick Porteous 71 71 76
221 Laird Shepherd 75 68 78
