Sweden's Fredrik Andersson Hed remained on course for his first European Tour title at the 245th attempt in the BMW Italian Open - despite seeing his overnight lead reduced to one.
Andersson Hed took a commanding six shot lead into the final round in Turin after a brilliant nine under par 63 in the third round, but after a shaky start the 38 year old from Halmstad reached the turn with just a three shot cushion over Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts, Spain's Ignacio Garrido and England's David Horsey.
Andersson Hed, who regained his tour card after an incredible 14th trip to The European Tour Qualifying School last November, bogeyed the first and had to fight hard to save par on the next three holes.
A birdie on the fifth appeared to calm his nerves, but a poor drive and approach to the ninth resulted in a second bogey of the day and dropped him back to 16 under.
Playing partner Miguel Angel Jimnez, coincidentally the last person to benefit when a six shot lead had been squandered going into the final round, was expected to be Andersson Hed's main challenger.
However, the 46 year old Spaniard dropped three shots in four holes from the fifth and, at seven shots back, his bid for a 17th European Tour title appeared to be over.
The gap was suddenly down to one shot when Horsey birdied the 11th and 12th to move to 15 under par.
And Andersson Hed's cause was not helped by rain starting to fall on the saturated course, although it was currently light enough not to threaten any disruption to play.
