Australia's Peter Lonard shot a stunning five under par 66 to claim the third round lead from Northern Ireland’’s Darren Clarke as the two European Tour Members go head-to-head in the MCI Heritage at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
On another day of difficult gusting conditions at the Harbour Town Golf Links, Lonard hardly put a foot wrong in moving to 11 under par 202 while Clarke could do little right as he battled to an untidy two over par 73 that left the Ulsterman one shot off the pace heading into Sunday's final round.
Clarke, who began the day with a six stroke advantage over Lonard, saw his lead evaporate before the turn with bogeys on four of his first seven holes, though he did birdie the fifth.
At the same time Lonard, the first round leader after firing a blistering nine under par 62, was picking up strokes with birdies on the second, fourth and fifth.
The Australian continued his steady play into the back nine with three more birdies before dropping his only stroke with a bogey on the 18th to top the leaderboard.
"Well, being six shots down I thought more about the opportunities I let go yesterday and I thought I had done myself a lot of damage coming in," said Lonard. "I thought it was going to be a serious uphill battle.
"I've had a few more downs than I've had ups. It's that sort of course. Yesterday I did what Darren did today. I didn't drive it that great early on and I got a little frustrated."
Clarke seemed to regain his composure with birdies on the ninth and tenth but his rollercoaster round continued with bogies on 11 and 15 before he birdied the 16th to finish on ten under par 203.
"I'm obviously disappointed with the way I played today," said Clarke. "I didn't swing it good. I had lost my feel on the greens completely, kept bashing them seven foot, six foot past and missing the ones coming back.
"I'm only one behind going into tomorrow so I'm looking forward to it. Hopefully, I'll play better tomorrow than I did today.
"Today I certainly made a lot of mistakes and at the same time Peter played fantastic.
"I'm not surprised to find myself one shot behind but that's not a bad place to be going into tomorrow."
Spain’’s Jose Maria Olazabal also made a move up the leaderboard as a two under par 69 lifted him to a share of fifth place on four under par 209.
