Raphaël Jacquelin and Fabrizio Zanotti have fired themselves back into contention at the SAS Masters after shooting superb third round scores of 65.
Frenchman Jacquelin could only muster rounds of 73 and 68 coming into the weekend, while Zanotti’s position looked equally unpromising after going 74-67 to make the cut with nothing to spare.
However, after both shot flawless rounds which each contained five birdies, they share the clubhouse lead at four under par.
Jacquelin’s run started at the par four first hole where he took a three, before he picked up another stroke at the second.
He claimed a par at the next, but a birdie at the par three fourth sent him to three under for the round. Four pars followed before he broke the streak with a birdie at the ninth to go out in 30.
His back nine was a tougher proposition and his only birdie came at the 14th, putting him within four shots of overnight leaders Nick Dougherty and Peter Hanson, who are afternoon starters.
Paraguay’s Zanotti, meanwhile, also enjoyed the early conditions at Arlandastad. He collected strokes at the third, sixth and eighth holes to go out in 31, before picking up another two at the 12th and 15th.
On the course, Jarmo Sandelin is also going well having collected four shots from the front nine to go four under overall, while Sam Walker is three under for his round and overall after 12 holes.
German Martin Kaymer suffered a blow to his hopes of climbing back into the top ten of The Ryder Cup table when he double bogeyed the short second.
Kaymer was pushed down to 11th spot by Sergio Garcia's runner-up finish at the US PGA Championship, but had the chance to go back as high as eighth this weekend.
However, he was down in 40th spot at one under after six holes and had to be top 12 to improve his cup position.
Fluctuating fortunes does not even come close to describing the week Swedish amateur David Palm has had in Stockholm.
Last but one of the 156-man field after an opening 79, Palm improved an incredible 17 shots in his second round and but for placing being allowed on the wet fairways would have broken the course record and equalled the lowest round by an amateur on The European Tour.
His eighth and final birdie enabled him to survive the halfway cut by the skin of his teeth, but this morning the Arlandastad lay-out became a bit of a struggle again with Palm falling back to four over par overall after a 73.
