Martin Kaymer made the perfect start as he reeled in the leaders in the third round of the 72° OPEN D'ITALIA presented by DAMIANI.
The German was one of the favourites coming into the week as he looks for a first win since claiming his second Major Championship victory at the US Open at Pinehurst last year and rounds of 68 and 66 had him just three shots behind the leading duo of Jens Fahrbring and Lucas Bjerregaard.
And he soon reduced that gap to one on Saturday as he got up and down from sand on the first to make a birdie and then picked up another shot on the second to quickly move to 12 under.
A third consecutive gain followed on the third and with the overnight leaders both parring the first, Kaymer was in a three-way tie for the lead.
Playing partner Rikard Karlberg got himself to 12 under with an opening pair of birdies and Nicolas Colsaerts soon joined him as he made a gain on the first in the group behind.
Spanish amateur Scott Fernandez was then a shot behind as two birdies and an eagle in his opening seven holes helped him get to three under for the day.
Frenchman Benjamin Hebert was making a charge up the leaderboard and he got to four under for the day with a birdie on the 11th to join the group at 10 under.
Italian Marco Crespi, playing his home course here at Golf Club Milano, gave the home fans something to cheer as he set the clubhouse lead on nine under.
The 36 year old was in the first group out and he registered seven birdies and two bogeys to sign for a 67 alongside Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez.
YE Yang was a shot further back on eight under and he lit up the course on the 12th hole as he sunk a 143 yard nine iron to record the 42nd hole in one on The European Tour this season.
