Christiaan Bezuidenhout extended his lead to five shots heading into the final round of the Andalucia Masters but home favourite Jon Rahm played his way into contention on day three at Valderrama.
South African Bezuidenhout carded a battling 69 to get to 10 under on one of Europe’s most feared layouts as he looks for a first victory on the European Tour.
Ryder Cup star Rahm has six solo wins to his name worldwide and he finally seemed to get to grips with a course where he has struggled in the past, matching the lowest round of the day with a 67 to share second place alongside Japan’s Hideto Tanihara.
Rahm turned in 32 with birdies on the fourth, sixth and eighth and then recovered from a bogey on the 15th with a birdie-birdie finish to set the clubhouse target.
Bezuidenhout was four ahead at that point after a single birdie on the second and he sandwiched a bogey on the 14th with further gains on the 10th and 16th to stretch his advantage.
“Going into Sunday with a five-shot lead is definitely nice,” he said. “Rahm is a great player, he’s top 15 in the world and he’s a legend in Spain so it will be quite an experience tomorrow.”
Tanihara carded a 68 to sit two shots ahead of Belgian pair Nicolas Colsaerts and Thomas Detry, with tournament host Sergio Garcia and England's Steven Brown in the group eight shots off the lead.
VALDERRAMA LEADERBOARD
British and Irish unless stated, par 71, (a) denotes amateur
203 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 66 68 69
208 Jon Rahm (Esp) 69 72 67, Hideto Tanihara (Jpn) 70 70 68
210 Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 73 67 70, Thomas Detry (Bel) 74 68 68
211 Adri Arnaus (Esp) 68 70 73, Steven Brown 70 72 69, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 67 73 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 68 72 71, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 69 73 69, Sergio Garcia (Esp) 66 72 73, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 71 73 67, Eduardo Ger Lao Riva (Esp) 71 71 69, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 68 71 72
212 Mike Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 72 72, Andy Sullivan 71 71 70, David Horsey 69 73 70, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 73 71 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 69 73, Bernd Ritthammer (Ger) 71 72 69, Daniel Gavins 70 74 68
213 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 66 77 70, Hugo Leon (USA) 73 69 71, Dean Burmester (Rsa) 71 73 69, Victor Perez (Fra) 65 74 74 ,Grant Forrest 72 72 69, Gavin Green (Mal) 66 74 73, Chris Paisley 69 71 73, Scott Jamieson 68 71 74
214 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 71 70 73, Niklas Lemke (Swe) 68 75 71, Jack Singh Brar 72 71 71, Samuel Del Val (Esp) 71 70 73, Alvaro Quiros (Esp) 70 68 76, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 70 74 70, Andres Romero (Arg) 70 72 72, Sean Crocker (USA) 72 72 70, Bradley Dredge 67 71 76
215 Julian Suri (USA) 67 73 75, Joost Luiten (Ned) 68 75 72, Kristoffer Reitan (Nor) 73 71 71, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 73 70 72, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 73 70 72
216 Stuart Manley 72 72 72, Paul Peterson (USA) 72 71 73, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 71 72 73, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 71 73 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 73 71 72, Justin Walters (Rsa) 70 70 76, Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn) 67 73 76, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 71 72 73, Min Woo Lee (Aus) 75 67 74
217 Andrew Johnston 70 73 74, Jeunghun Wang (Kor) 71 71 75, Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry) 69 71 77, David Lipsky (USA) 70 72 75, Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 70 69 78
218 David Law 70 72 76, Kim Koivu (Fin) 72 70 76, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 72 71 75
219 Anton Karlsson (Swe) 66 76 77, Christofer Blomstrand (Swe) 75 69 75, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 71 73 75
220 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 73 70 77, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 74 70 76, Ashley Chesters 71 73 76
221 Espen Kofstad (Nor) 70 70 81, Oliver Wilson 69 73 79, Joakim Lagergren (Swe) 70 74 77
222 Hyo-won Park (Kor) 73 71 78
224 Filippo Bergamaschi (Ita) 69 74 81
