Fredrik Jacobson, who held the lead after round one, regained pole position after round three of the Algarve Open de Portugal on a day when the wind made an already demanding Vale do Lobo course play to its very toughest.
The 28 year old Swede, who carded a course record 64 on Thursday, was equally delighted with his third round 71, one of only four rounds under par from the 72 strong field, to give him a five under par total of 211 and a great chance of his second success of the 2003 season, having already claimed the Omega Hong Kong Open.
Jacobson leads by one shot from Englishmen Brian Davis and Greg Owen, Davis, like the Swede, battling hard to card a one under par 71 while Owen, the overnight leader, struggled on the demanding back nine before finally settling for a 76.
Three birdies in his outward nine helped Jacobson to the turn in two under par 35 before, apart from a bogey five at the 12th where he overshot the green, he carded nothing but par figures on the tough inward stretch – no mean feat in the conditions.
“I just wanted to try and dig in today and to stay close enough to have a chance tomorrow so obviously I’m delighted to find myself in the lead,” he said.
"I played really well on the front nine and hit every green where I had a lot of chances but I scrambled well down the last few holes, so there was a bit of both in the round. I wasn’t surprised because it was the toughest conditions of the week and I was happy to start off that way and it gave me a bit of confidence to get into the round properly.
“As for tomorrow, I feel comfortable and I feel happy to be up there. First week back after ten weeks out and now after a few more rounds under my belt I am starting to get back into it so I am very positive for tomorrow.”
For a long spell it looked like Owen, who held a three shot lead over the field at the start of the day, would still be the man everyone had to beat when one birdie at the fourth and eight pars saw him to the turn in 36.
But the birdies chances he let slip by on the outward half came back to haunt him on an untidy inward half where he frittered away five shots, four in four holes from the 12th, with the biggest mistake coming at the 481 yard 14th where he drove out of bounds on his way to a double bogey six.
“I played okay but I felt like I just didn’t get any breaks,” he said. “But I’m still only one shot back and hopefully that’s my bad round out of the way and I can build from this.
“I feel like I’m still swinging it well but just nothing happened today. You know it is going to be tough on the back nine and if you don’t make your birdies on the front nine you know you are going to have to hang on.”
A man who did just that was Brian Davis, who made no impression on par on the outward half but dug deeply to cover the harder inward half in one under par 34.
“I changed my equipment this year and it took me a few weeks to get used to it. I was still struggling a little bit coming here and on Thursday and Friday so I’m really happy to be in contention,” he said.
The only other two players in the field to finish under par for three rounds, Germany’s Marcel Siem and Richard Sterne of South Africa, shared fourth place on one under par 215 after Siem carded a 76 while Sterne produced a three under par 69, the best round of the day.
