Henrik Stenson joined Phil Mickelson at the top of the leaderboard on day three of The 145th Open Championship at Royal Troon.
The Swede trailed by a shot heading into the weekend but birdies on the first and third moved him to 11 under alongside Mickelson, who had also taken advantage of the third hole.
Dane Søren Kjeldsen was then in the group at six under as the leading pair opened up a comfortable gap to the rest of the field.
Stenson got off to the perfect start as he put his approach to the first to 15 feet and rolled in a birdie to join Mickelson at ten under.
Keegan Bradley did not enjoy the same success as he dropped a shot on the opening hole to drop to six under and when Kjeldsen three-putted the third, the leading duo had a four-shot cushion over the field.
It looked like advantage Mickelson as Stenson found a bunker off the tee on the third but his drive had got him to the side of the green and an exquisite sand shot set up a birdie which the American matched.
JB Holmes was making a big move through the field as he turned in 32 to join the group in second at six under along with defending champion Zach Johnson who birdied the second.
US Open champion Dustin Johnson was then in the group a shot further back after turning in 33 alongside fellow Americans Bill Haas and Tony Finau.
Rafa Cabrera Bello, Sergio Garcia, Andrew Johnston and Kevin Na were then all seven shots off the lead.
Miguel Angel Jiménez fired a 70 to set the clubhouse target at level par.
