Paul McGinley put together a spectacular run of birdies to move to within a shot of the lead during the third round of the Ballantine’s Championship.
The former Ryder Cup hero, who won the last of his four European Tour titles back in 2005, started with five birdies in his first six holes at Blackstone Golf Club.
He added another gain at the 12th, and with it moved to six under for the day and the tournament with six holes left to play.
That was one behind Austrian Bernd Wiesberger, who was level par through three holes after his spectacular second round 65.
McGinley was level with Australian Marcus Fraser, the 2010 winner of this event also playing his first three holes in level par, while Chile’s Felipe Aguilar and England’s Oliver Fisher made early gains to share fourth on five under.
Like McGinley, France’s Romain Wattel was also producing a tremendous round.
The 21 year old, starting on the back nine, went birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie from the 17th to the second, the last of those courtesy of a 15 foot putt.
That propelled Wattel to seven under for the day and six under for the week to join McGinley and Aguilar in third.
Fraser briefly held a share of the lead when he pitched to two feet at the driveable par four fourth, but Wiesberger responded with a 15 foot birdie putt to edge ahead again on eight under.
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