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Lucas Herbert carded an excellent round of 64 to open up a two-shot lead over England's Tom Lewis on day three of the Portugal Masters in Vilamoura.
Oliver Fisher had made history in round two as he carded the first ever 59 on the European Tour and an unlikely eagle on the par four last would have handed Lewis the second on another low-scoring day.
A closing par saw Lewis sign for a 61 and a 17 under par total behind Australian Herbert, who is playing off invites this season as he looks to earn his full playing privileges on tour.
Ireland's Shane Lowry, who won the title in 2012, shares 10th spot on 12 under after carding a three-under 68, finishing his round with two birdies.
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Lowry won the year after Lewis won it in 2011 in just his third start as a professional. The 27-year-old recorded a victory on the Challenge Tour just two weeks ago, although he looked unlikely to contend this week after an opening 72.
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Lewis has birdied 18 of his 36 holes since, including 10 in round three, and he admitted the thought of another 59 had crept into his mind.
“It’s something that I noticed with three holes to go,” he said. “I wasn’t that bothered at the end of the day. I’m pleased that I shot 10 under par and put myself in there tomorrow. I can only continue to make birdies and see what happens tomorrow.”
Herbert made eight birdies and a single bogey to get to 19 under, with England's Eddie Pepperell and Swede Marcus Kinhult four shots off the lead.
Fisher was then in the group at 14 under after taking 10 more shots than his historic effort on Friday.
THIRD ROUND SCOREBOARD
(British and Irish unless stated, par 71)
194 Lucas Herbert (Aus) 63 67 64
196 Tom Lewis 72 63 61
198 Marcus Kinhult (Swe) 68 65 65, Eddie Pepperell 64 66 68
199 Mikko Korhonen (Fin) 66 69 64, Oliver Fisher 71 59 69, Renato Paratore (Ita) 66 66 67
200 Haotong Li (Chn) 65 67 68, Pep Angles (Esp) 70 65 65
201 Adrien Saddier (Fra) 66 66 69, Jason Scrivener (Aus) 66 67 68, Andrew Sullivan 69 66 66, Shane Lowry 64 69 68, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 66 68 67
202 Matt Wallace 64 67 71, Ryan Fox (Nzl) 70 68 64, Jordan Smith 68 67 67, Kim Koivu (Fin) 66 68 68
203 Ricardo Gouveia (Por) 67 66 70, Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 68 68 67, Nicolas Colsaerts (Bel) 68 69 66, Ashley Chesters 66 70 67, Matthew Baldwin 69 68 66, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Esp) 67 69 67, Soomin Lee (Kor) 67 69 67, Richard Sterne (Rsa) 69 66 68
204 Richard Bland 68 68 68, Chris Wood 72 66 66, Haydn Porteous (Rsa) 68 69 67, Ashun Wu (Chn) 70 64 70, George Coetzee (Rsa) 67 70 67, Sam Locke (a) 68 69 67, Sergio Garcia (Esp) 66 70 68, Bradley Dredge 67 72 65
205 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 66 70, Matthieu Pavon (Fra) 68 70 67, Danny Willett 69 69 67, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa) 69 68 68, Matthias Schwab (Aut) 69 68 68, Stephen Gallacher 68 67 70, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 68 69 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 64 71
206 Lasse Jensen (Den) 72 65 69, Scott Jamieson 70 69 67
207 Andrew Johnston 71 68 68, Ross Fisher 68 69 70, Matthew Nixon 73 66 68, Clement Sordet (Fra) 74 64 69, Jorge Campillo (Esp) 67 68 72, Josh Geary (Nzl) 68 68 71, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 70 69 68, Phachara Khongwatmai (Tha) 68 70 69, Robert Rock 69 70 68, Paul Dunne 68 68 71, Gian-Marco Petrozzi (Ita) 66 70 71, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn) 68 68 71, Ross McGowan 70 67 70
208 Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 68 70, David Howell 66 71 71, David Horsey 68 68 72
209 Jason Norris (Aus) 67 70 72, JC Ritchie (Rsa) 69 70 70, Marc Warren 75 64 70, Sebastian Heisele (Ger) 68 69 72, David Lipsky (USA) 69 69 71, Alejandro Canizares (Esp) 67 70 72, Julien Guerrier (Fra) 71 68 70, Jin-ho Choi (Kor) 70 69 70
210 Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin) 69 69 72, Chris Hanson 67 72 71, Nino Bertasio (Ita) 67 72 71, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 70 72
211 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 71 66 74, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 70 69 72, Daniel Brooks 69 70 72, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 69 70 72, Nacho Elvira (Esp) 68 70 73, Pablo Larrazabal (Esp) 72 67 72
212 Birgir Hafthorsson (Isl) 73 66 73
213 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 70 69 74, Ricardo Santos (Por) 71 67 75
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