Richard Green returned to the head of the field in the Alstom Open de France at Le Golf National after overnight leader James Morrison endured a poor start to his third round.
Morrison, who led Green by one after carding consecutive 66s on Thursday and Friday, found the water on the par three second and made double bogey to slip back to eight under for the tournament.
Green briefly led by two after birdieing the long third for a third round in succession, but a bogey at four sent him back to nine under.
Thorbjørn Olesen and Mark Foster were each within two shots of the Australian after making good progress in the early stages of their penultimate rounds.
Both men birdied the third, while Olesen also picked up a shot at the fourth to move to two under for his round.
Matthew Nixon and Richie Ramsay were a shot further back at six under, while Thomas Levet birdied the third, sixth and seventh to join Nicolas Colsaerts, who eagled the third, and Thongchai Jaidee on five under.
World Number Four Martin Kaymer, two under overnight, was six shots adrift of the lead after 11 holes of his second round, having followed two early birdies this morning with a bogey at the eighth.
American Brendan Steele’s round of 67 representing the best of the early starters and took him to two under overall.
