Golf – Madrid Masters:Luke Donald and Rhys Davies are tied for the lead heading into the final round of the Madrid Masters at Real Sociedad Club de Campo where Graeme McDowell still has a chance, albeit and outside one, of contending from six shots back.
European Tour rookie Davies from Wales birdied two of the last three holes to draw level on 16 under par, going round in an eight-birdie 67 compared to Donald’s bogey-free 68.
They pair are two ahead of Italian Francesco Molinari and three clear of Spanish Open champion Alvaro Quiros, who holed his pitch for a closing eagle two and a course record-equalling 64.
Davies, already a winner in Morocco in his first full season on the circuit, closed the gap to one again with an eight-footer on the long 16th - Donald could only par after pushing his second into thick rough - and they were level when he followed with a 12-footer at the next for his eighth birdie.
Both then parred the last and at 16 under par ended the day two in front of Molinari.
Donald, who led by one at halfway, finished runner up at last week’s BMW Championship at Wentworth. “To rebound from the disappointment of last week and be in contention shows a lot about my character,” he said.
“I was struggling a bit off the tee on the back side. Not to have a bogey was good, but it would have been nice to make a couple more birdies.”
Donald’s last title was the US Tour’s Honda Classic four years ago and for his last win in Europe you have to go back to the 2004 European Masters in Switzerland.
The world ranking points on offer mean that Donald will go fourth in the Ryder Cup table by ending his barren spell, a move that would knock Pádraig Harrington out of an automatic spot.
Davies said: “I made two little errors, very minor, and got severely punished for both.
“It was annoying at the time, but I focused on keeping my head in the right position and took on the shots I felt like I needed to.
“Saturday is a little bit different because there is still a long way to go.”
McDowell made great strides with three birdies at the sixth, seventh and 10th. However, an untimely setback came with a double bogey six at the 12th.
All his momentum was stalled and a run of six pars followed before he signed off with a birdie at the 18th to signed for a 70 to be 10 under and six off the lead. He will need to go very low tomorrow to have any chance of contending for honours.
Peter Lawrie kept up the good work with his 68 to get to eight under. The back nine was the more productive with four birdies in all, whereas four birdies on the front were undone by a bogey, double bogey combination from the first and another bogey coming at the ninth.
Damien McGrane made good progress with today's 67 to get to get to seven under for the tournament. Although the day was book-ended with bogeys at the first and 18th (plus another at the eighth), his day was littered with no less than eight birdies - five of those came consecutively from the third.
Paul McGinley was still unable to tap into the sort of form that delivered an opening 66, but a 70 moved the Dubliner back up to six under for the tournament
Shane Lowry shot a third round 70 to be three under. The Irish Open champion had a real mixed bag with a card showing four birdies and as many bogeys. His round dipped under par courtesy of a fine eagle at the par five 16th.
Collated third round scores and totals in the Madrid Masters, Real Sociedad Hipica Espanola Club de Campo, Madrid, Spain
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
200Luke Donald 65 67 68, Rhys Davies 65 68 67
202Francesco Molinari (Ita) 67 70 65
203Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 70 64
204Graeme Storm 73 64 67
205Robert Rock 70 68 67, Jamie Donaldson 65 70 70
206 Graeme McDowell 68 68 70
207Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 67 70 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 69 70 68
208Stephen Gallacher 69 73 66, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 67 71 70, Richard Finch 68 71 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 72 65, Tano Goya (Arg) 69 72 67, Peter Lawrie 71 69 68
209Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 68 68, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 71 67, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 69 70 70, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 68 73 68, Damien McGrane 69 73 67, Peter Whiteford 73 70 66, Nick Dougherty 69 70 70, Simon Dyson 70 69 70, Brett Rumford (Aus) 67 71 71, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 75 67 67
210Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 71 67 72, Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 70 71 69, Benjamin Hebert (Fra) 68 70 72, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 73 67 70, Paul McGinley 66 74 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 69 72 69, David Lynn 72 70 68
211Danny Lee (Nzl) 69 74 68, Gary Orr 73 67 71, Oliver Wilson 70 71 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 68 75 68, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 68 73 70, Johan Edfors (Swe) 67 73 71, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 71 70 70, Gregory Havret (Fra) 68 74 69
212Phillip Price 67 74 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 70 71, Julien Quesne (Fra) 72 69 71, Sam Hutsby 73 69 70, Paul Lawrie 73 70 69, Richard Green (Aus) 71 67 74, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 72 71 69, Bradley Dredge 67 73 72
213Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 75 67 71, Carl Suneson (Spa) 69 73 71, Joost Luiten (Ned) 70 69 74, Sion E Bebb 70 71 72, Shane Lowry 69 74 70, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 68 74 71, Kenneth Ferrie 73 70 70
214Alvaro Salto (Spa) 74 68 72, Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 68 74 72, Alastair Forsyth 74 69 71, Santiago Luna (Spa) 69 71 74, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 71 71
215Gary Clark 71 71 73, Gary Boyd 73 68 74, John Parry 72 70 73, James Kingston (Rsa) 68 71 76, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 66 76 73, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 70 72 73, Oliver Fisher 70 72 73
216James Morrison 70 70 76, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 72 74, Ross McGowan 68 74 74
217David Drysdale 69 74 74, Jorge Campillo (Spa) 72 70 75
218Stephen Dodd 69 74 75
219Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 71 76
221Rick Kulacz (Aus) 72 71 78
222Marc Warren 70 71 81