Sweden’s Pelle Edberg came surging through the field as the third round of the BMW International Open began in Cologne.
While his compatriot and overnight leader Joel Sjöholm was not due to tee off until 13:50 local time, Edberg halved the 27 year old’s two shot overnight lead with a brilliant front-nine charge.
The 33 year old, famous for wearing a headband rather than a cap on the course, came into the event in good form after back-to-back top-ten finishes.
And that continued with birdies at the first, third, fifth and seventh and an eagle at the long sixth.
At six under after eight Edberg had risen 28 places to second, and was only one behind Sjöholm approaching the turn – both are looking for a maiden European Tour title.
The quartet tied for second overnight were down to third before teeing off as a result – and three of them had never won on The European Tour either.
Chris Wood, Danny Willett and Fabrizio Zanotti were all after a first victory and they were level with Ireland’s Paul McGinley – who won the last of his four titles seven years ago.
Scot Stephen Gallacher, England’s Gary Boyd and South African Keith Horne were all making steady progress at Gut Lärchenhof to join Thomas Nørret and Shiv Kapur on eight under.
