Padraig Harrington birdied his final three holes at the Porsche European Open in Hamburg to complete an impressive round of 68, leaving him six shots behind the leading pair heading into the final round.
At the Green Eagles course, Harrington was even par for his round thru 10, having registered two birdies and two bogeys on a generally moderate day for scoring.
However, a strong closing stretch, commencing with a birdie on 11 and concluding with three successive birdies saw get to three under par for the championship, leaving him an outside chance heading into Sunday.
Scotland's Robert MacIntyre dug in deep to keep his name at the top of the leaderboard but he was joined there by home favourite Bernd Ritthammer at the end of day.
MacIntyre shot a flawless 65 on Friday to start the third round with a four-shot advantage at 11 under par, but he saw that lead evaporate at the turn as he carded two bogeys while playing partner Ritthammer rolled in two birdies.
The Nuremberg native and MacIntyre bogeyed the 10th to drop to eight under before Ritthammer showed nerves of steel to bounce back and birdie the 11th and 12th to surge two shots ahead.
However, the German let MacIntyre and Ryder Cup star Paul Casey back in at eight under following successive bogeys at the 14th and 15th.
But the final group regathered their composure to birdie the last and move one shot ahead of world number 17 Casey at Green Eagle Golf Courses.
"Things didn't go my way today," MacIntyre told europeantour.com. "I fought well until the end. It doesn't matter where I am on the leaderboard, bottom or top, every point counts.
"Today I just showed my fight and to birdie the last was huge to get a tie for the lead.
"It's just about the belief. I'm going to go out there tomorrow and play my best golf. If it's enough, it's enough. If it's not, it's not. We are always going to learn and today was a huge learning experience."
Casey, who led after the first round in Hamburg, rolled in five birdies but blotted his card with two bogeys to sit in solo third, while Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal and Austria's Matthias Schwab are one further back on seven under par.
