Sergio Garcia believes he may need a repeat of his brilliant 64 at Le Golf National on Saturday if he is to claim his first Rolex Series title at the HNA Open de France on Sunday.
Garcia carded the round of the week on day three in Paris, with eight birdies in 16 holes catapulting the Spaniard up the leaderboard before he found water off the tee on the last for a bogey.
That left him three shots behind leader Marcus Kinhult at the end of the day and within touching distance of a Rolex Series crown to add to his Major Championship at the 2017 Masters Tournament, although the 38 year old knows he will have to conjure up another special performance.
“The goal is to play as well as I did today,” he said. “I believe in what I'm doing and just have as much confidence as possible, like I was doing today. If I'm able to do that, I should have a good round.
“It's the kind of golf course that it's testing you every single hole and you've got to stay very patient and very down-to-earth.
“We need a round like this to get back into the middle of it, we're probably going to need another pretty decent round tomorrow.”
Garcia sat a shot ahead of countryman Jon Rahm after the World Number Five overcame some frustration after the turn to card a birdie-birdie finish in a round of 68.
Rahm is the only man to win multiple Rolex Series events and is looking forward to playing alongside Garcia when he goes in search of a third on Sunday.
“I think tomorrow could be a great day,” he said. “He had a great round today and to have two Spaniards playing together, contending, plus two more in the top ten, it's something great for us and for Spanish golf, so hopefully one of us gets a win tomorrow.
“It's a tough golf course, really difficult, even for somebody like me who is usually known to be a ball-striker. It's hard for me to keep it away from bogeys and hazards. It's a challenge and I'm going to need a really good day tomorrow to hopefully get it done.”
If either Rahm or Garcia are going to get a win they are not going to have to get past just Kinhult but also Chris Wood, who was two shots off the lead after 54 holes.
The Englishman was three over after five holes but picked up eight shots in his next ten before bogeying the last.
“A lot of players might let that get to them, three over through five, but I felt like I was hitting pretty good shots,” he said.
“A couple behind going into tomorrow. Same sort of approach and attitude tomorrow and see where it gets me.”
