Sergio Garcia put himself in pole position to secure a hat-trick of Andalucía Masters victories after firing a flawless 64 to open up a commanding four-shot lead heading into the final round of the 54-hole Andalucía Valderrama Masters hosted by the Sergio Garcia Foundation.
Defending champion Garcia, who also won the 2011 edition of this event, continued his love affair with Real Club Valderrama on Saturday as he fired seven birdies to match his lowest-ever score at the Spanish course and move to ten under par.
First-round leader Ashley Chesters was the Spaniard's nearest challenger on six under after carding 17 pars and a single birdie in his second round.
A series of weather delays on the first two days prevented Garcia from playing at all on Friday - and after more inclement weather disrupted the early starters again on day three, tournament director José Maria Zamora had already announced the event would be reduced to 54 holes before Garcia began his second round on Saturday afternoon.
Home favourite Garcia made a fast start when he finally got back out on course, chipping in from just off the second green to pick up his first shot of the day before rolling in from six feet for another birdie at the third to join Chesters on five under.
And after making several good par saves to keep his card clean, Garcia sank his 18-foot birdie putt at the 11th to grab the outright lead on a calm but overcast afternoon.
He then finished his second round with a brilliant burst of scoring, holing from 12 feet at the 14th before reeling off three straight birdies from inside ten feet at the 16th, 17th and 18th to finish the day on ten under par.
Garcia said: "Every time you win is special, and every time you have a chance of winning is special - we have a good shot tomorrow, but it’s not going to be an easy day at all, so we have to keep playing.
"Obviously we would have loved the tournament to go to 72 holes but unfortunately we can’t control the weather and it’s been a little bit rough for us this week. We tried to make the best decision possible and tomorrow we have to play hard.
"You don’t expect to shoot this kind of score on this course, even with the conditions we had.
"I did see a four or five under if you play well but it was one of those days when I struck the ball really, really well.
"Every time I had to get up and down I did and I was very consistent throughout the whole day, which obviously makes a big difference."
Chesters had occupied top spot for most of the first three days after posting an opening 66 on Thursday.
And he impressed again in round two but could only manage one birdie - courtesy of a lovely 20-foot putt at the fourth - and heads into the third and final round four shots back.
Chesters is looking forward to teeing it up with Garcia on Sunday. He said: "There is only one round to go and I’m not too far off the lead. I’ve got a bit of making up to do so I don’t know if going to 54 holes makes much difference.
"There’s always a chance. There’s not a lot of pressure on me. I’ve had a decent year, I’ve got my card sorted and I’ve got the last few events to aim to get into if I can have a good week here. I’ve not really got a lot to lose so I can have a go tomorrow and see what happens.
"I’ll be playing with Sergio, who was always one of my favourite players when I was growing up. I would imagine there will be quite a lot of Spanish people hoping he will win, so I would imagine it will be a bit different tomorrow."
Spanish pair Alvaro Quiros and Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño and Scot Marc Warren had set the early clubhouse target on four under after putting the finishing touches to their second rounds on day three - and they head into the final round in a share of third place.
Fernández-Castaño and Warren came into the week sitting 125th and 144th respectively in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex and require a strong finish to retain their playing privileges.
Shane Lowry and Lee Westwood, who has his son Sam on the bag this week, are another stroke back on three under, one clear of the group containing Frenchman Grégory Bourdy after he closed his second round with a disappointing double bogey.
With the cut mark falling at four over par, the likes of Marcus Fraser and Jonathan Thomson just made it and have the chance to pick up vital points on Sunday.
