Luke Donald had given himself a tough task to get back in the hunt for the Madrid Masters, but he clearly had not given up in the third round.
Nine behind Sergio Garcia and David Drysdale after making the halfway cut with nothing to spare, Donald turned in 32 and then eagled the long tenth to jump from joint 65th to joint ninth.
On ten under par the Englishman, who shot 64 to lead after the third round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship last week, was only three back, although all the front-runners had yet to tee off again.
Also going well were Spanish duo Alejandro Cañizares and Santiago Luna. Both were five under for the round after nine and 12 holes respectively, putting Canizares alongside Donald and Luna one further behind.
José Maria Olazábal, who eagled the last to survive to the weekend, had improved from four under to seven under with three to play.
