Tom McKibbin made the cut on the number at the Italian Open presented by Regione Emilia-Romagna, but climbed almost 30 places on the leaderboard with a three-under 68 on moving day.
Out in the second groupn on Saturday, the 21-year-old made five birdies on the tough layout, but mixed in two bogeys to reach the clubhouse at -4 for the tournament, three shots off ninth place.
Antoine Rozner carded a course record-setting 62 to move into a four-way share of the lead ahead of the final round.
Incredibly, the Frenchman teed off at Adriatic Golf Club in just the second group of the day after making the cut on the number thanks to a birdie on his final hole on Friday, but set a clubhouse target of ten under par after his nine under par round.
He made the turn three under after birdies on the third, sixth and seventh holes, and then made his fourth gain of the day on the tenth.
The 31-year-old then played the four holes from the 13th in five under par, carding three birdies and an eagle on the 15th hole, as he signed for a six under par back nine, two hours before the leaders teed off.
“Out of all the birdies I’ve made this week so far, the one on 18 yesterday was huge,” said the Frenchman afterwards. “I bogeyed 17 to be out of the cut line and I had no other choice but to hit the pin, make the putt and that’s what I did. I got back this morning with the mindset of having nothing to lose. The conditions were lovely, the greens were pure. I took advantage of it, it was an amazing day.
“In my game it was just holing putts. I struggled a little bit on the greens during the first two days. Today, I was just rolling it very nicely. It was really nice. I trusted myself a bit more on the reads and committed a little bit more to my lines, that was a big difference to the mindset and hopefully I can bring that in tomorrow.”
He is joined on ten under by Germany’s Marcel Siem, who is playing in just his fourth event after returning from hip surgery, 2018 Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Shubhankar Sharma and Danish rookie Sebastian Friedrichsen.
Adrian Otaegui, who won his fifth DP World Tour title at the Volvo China Open in May, is fifth on nine under par, while Gregorio De Leo leads the home charge in a share of sixth on eight under. He is joined on that number by Joel Girrbach of Switzerland and Englishman Andrew Wilson.
In addition to the Italian Open trophy, there are also two spots available for The 152nd Open as part of The Open Qualifying Series. The two highest-placed golfers not currently exempt will earn a place at the final men’s Major Championship of the year. Of those in contention, Sharma and Siem have already booked their places at Royal Troon.
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