Farr in front in Foshan

Oliver Farr will take a five-shot lead into the final round of the Foshan Open after carding a bogey-free 66 on Day Three in China.

The Welshman has been in excellent form on the European Challenge Tour in recent weeks, notching up one top five and two further top ten finishes in his last three starts on Europe’s top developmental tour.

Out in the final group today alongside overnight leader Zhang Hui-lin, Farr made steady progress over the front nine with two birdies to stay in touch with his playing partner who bogeyed eight and nine and saw his lead fall to two shots.

After a further gain at the par three 11^thfor Farr, Zhang came unstuck at the 12^thwhere after failing to find the green he was forced to play from a difficult lie in the deep rough – the Chinese player eventually left the hole with a quadruple-bogey.

Farr seized his opportunity with aplomb, bagging three more birdies over his closing five holes to go into the final day five clear of Germany’s Sebastian Heisele and Englishmen Ryan Evans and Callum Tarren.

“This whole week has been pretty good to be honest. Today was one of those days where I had to stay patient and then after the 12^thI found myself in the lead for the first time this week.

“I wanted to make some birdies coming in and I went on to do that. When I initially went out there I thought ‘this is going to be a tough day’ but I just hit some really good shots and made a lot of putts as well.

“It was still really tricky playing in the final group as the greens were really crisping up towards the end of the round, but all in all it was a really good day.”

At last year’s Foshan Open Farr was one of the first to congratulate champion Marcus Armitage – an experience he is hoping will be a good omen for him tomorrow.

“Marcus text me last night after yesterday’s round wishing me good luck,” he said. “Those were good memories and I came away from here last year feeling really happy for Marcus – hopefully that is a good omen for me tomorrow.”