Pádraig Harrington made another move up the leaderboard thanks to a four-under 68 on St Andrews’ Old Course on Saturday, and he goes into the final round tied for 21st and just four shots off the top five.
The three-time major winner opened his Alfred Dunhill Links Championship week with a one-under 71 at Carnoustie, and followed with a five-under 67 at Kingsbarns before moving to the Home of Golf for the final round before the field was cut leaving 70 players to contest the final round.
Starting on the back nine, Harrington bogeyed the 11th but that was the only blemish on his card and he bounced back to birdie the par-4 12th, par-5 14th, and par-4 15th and 18th holes to make the turn at three-under for the round.
Genuine birdie chances were few and far between on the front nine, and the only one he found came via a chip-in from over the back of the fourth after he sent his approach bounding over the green.
Eight pars besides that lone birdie resulted in a 68 that moved him to 10-under overall and he’s part of a nine-strong group tied for 21st, eight shots off the lead, but just four outside the top five as they all return to St Andrews for the final round on the storied links that’s seen 30 Champion Golfers of the Year crowned.
Casey Jarvis is the man they all have to catch and he will take a two-shot lead into the final round as he looks to close out a dream victory at the Home of Golf.
The South African carded a seven-under-par third round 65 on the Old Course, adding to his rounds of 67 at Kingsbarns and 66 at Carnoustie over the previous two days, to move to 18-under and two ahead of Matthew Jordan and Adrian Meronk, who posted rounds of 66 and 63 respectively around Kingsbarns.
The 23-year-old, currently sixth on the Race to Dubai Rankings delivered by DP World, secured back-to-back DP World Tour victories at the Magical Kenya Open presented by Asba and the Investec South African Open Championship earlier this year and he is relishing the prospect of becoming the first three-time winner this season.
Jarvis entered the third round with a one-shot advantage, and he made a spectacular start with a hole-out eagle on the tenth followed by birdies on the 11th, 13th and 14th to reach 16-under, while Jordan was making a fast start of his own at Kingsbarns.
He parred his next six holes before making a brilliant up and down for birdie from out of position at the third, before extending his lead to two strokes with a birdie at the fifth.
Jarvis parred the rest of his way in, producing a great escape from a pot bunker at the sixth, lipping out for birdie at the seventh and narrowly missing chances to further extend his advantage at the eighth and ninth.
Jordan, who is searching for his first DP World Tour victory after two runner-ups this season, added a third round 66 to his opening 69 at St Andrews and an impressive seven under 65 at Carnoustie.
The 30-year-old claimed his first big amateur title here in 2017, the St Andrews Links Trophy, and will be looking for a full-circle moment on Sunday.
Four-time DP World Tour winner Meronk carded the joint-lowest round of the day at Kingsbarns, which featured seven birdies and an eagle for a nine under 63.
The Pole, whose started his professional career at this championship ten years ago, is looking forward to being in contention again heading into a final round.
Belgian Thomas Detry sits in fourth position on 15-under, while Danish duo Jacob Skov Olesen and Niklas Nørgaard are a short further behind in a share of fifth.
David Law and Will Ahmed share the lead in the team competition with Adrian Meronk and Tom Chaplin on 31-under-par after day three.
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