Andy Sullivan was relishing the chance to become the first man to successfully defend the Portugal Masters after keeping himself right in contention with a third-round 69 at Victoria Clube de Golfe.
The Englishman entered day three with a share of the lead after a stunning 61 on Friday but looked out of sorts early on, sitting level par for his round after 13 holes in favourable conditions on the Algarve.
A hat-trick of birdies from the 15th reignited his challenge and despite a closing bogey, he will head into the final round just two shots behind leaders Anders Hansen and Mikko Korhonen.
Sullivan won by nine shots last year as he claimed his third title of the season and while there will be no repeat of that dominance on Sunday, the 29 year old was happy with his position.
"At the start of the week, if someone said 'you're two behind going into the last round and you've got a chance to defend', I'd have snapped their hand off," he said.
"I'm in a great position to go out there tomorrow and try and defend my title.
"To be two behind going into the last round, I'm pretty happy with that. I think it could have gotten away from me quite easily today. Even with the bogey on the last, I'm still pretty pleased with my day's work.
"There's something about that back nine where I felt like I can get going a little bit. A lot of the holes suit my shape so I feel like I can really hold it up into the wind.
"Hopefully tomorrow that will put me in good stead and I'll get off to a quick start and try and lead from the front."
I'm in a great position to go out there tomorrow and try and defend my title - Andy Sullivan
If Sullivan is to claim his fourth European Tour win he will not have to get past just Hansen and Korhonen, but also three-time Major Championship winner Padraig Harrington who sits a shot ahead of him.
The Irishman led at the turn after making four birdies and remained happy with his day's work despite fading a little down the stretch.
"I'm happy with that," he said. "When I got it through ten holes as I did, if I pushed on a couple it would take a lot of people out of contention tomorrow.
"There's plenty of guys now that feel they can shoot a low one in there - eight, nine, ten under par as we've seen. I've got to play well tomorrow. A lot of work to be done."
