Marcus Kinhult found himself in possession of a one shot lead as he reached the turn on day four of the Betfred British Masters.
Kinhult has struggled for form at times this season, making the cut just twice in his first eight events of the season before heading to Southport this week.
But the Swede is used to producing his best golf on England's north west coast, having won the Lytham Trophy as an amateur in 2015.
And he did so again on the opening three days, posting scores of 65, 69 and 68 to head into the final round alongside Matt Wallace at the top of the leaderboard.
Kinhult took the outright lead when Wallace failed to get up and down from a bunker at the first.
And after notching his first birdie of the day at the second to jump to 15 under par, Kinhult safely parred his way to the turn to stay one shot ahead of Wallace with nine holes left to play.
The pair had tournament host Tommy Fleetwood and defending champion Eddie Pepperell breathing down their necks as they Englishmen sat two shots behind Wallace on 12 under after ten holes of their final rounds.
