Hennie Otto maintained his lead as Stephen Gallacher's rollercoaster battle to qualify for The Ryder Cup looked set to continue in the third round of the 71° OPEN D'ITALIA Presented by DAMIANI.
Gallacher arrived in Turin knowing he needed to finish in the top two to dislodge Graeme McDowell from the final automatic qualifying place in Paul McGinley's European Team for Gleneagles.
The 39 year old Scot birdied two of his first three holes on Thursday but eventually had to settle for a 72 that left him six shots off the lead, while a stunning 62 from South African Otto meant he was 15 off the pace before starting his second round.
After a double bogey on the sixth Gallacher was outside the projected cut, but a brilliant back nine of 30 resulted in a round of 65 that gave him a share of ninth place, five shots behind Austria's Bernd Wiesberger in second.
A birdie on the opening hole on Saturday then took Gallacher to eight under par and into a share of fourth, but a bogey on the third dropped him back into a tie for 13th.
Not for the first time this week, Gallacher responded quickly with a birdie on the fifth and at eight under par was back within four shots of Wiesberger, who had opened with three pars.
Otto had moved four clear of Wiesberger with a birdie on the first - the par five playing the easiest hole on the course this week - but dropped a shot on the third.
A string of pars took Gallacher to the turn in 35 before a superb approach to the tenth set up a birdie from five feet.
At nine under par he was still seven off the lead after Otto's birdie on the sixth, but was briefly within three of second place until Wiesberger carded his first birdie of the day on the eighth.
Wiesberger was far from the only player Gallacher had to worry about however, his fellow Scot Richie Ramsay compiling a flawless front nine of 32 to move to 12 under and outright third.
Gallacher admitted he was focused on second place after Otto's 62 on Friday, but first place was back on the agenda after the ninth hole.
Otto had to take a penalty drop after carving his second shot into the trees and could only find a greenside bunker with his fourth shot, leading to a double-bogey seven.
The 38 year old responded with a birdie from six feet on the tenth as Wiesberger dropped his first shot of the week on the same hole, with Ramsay moving into second on 13 under thanks to a two-putt birdie on the 12th.
Gallacher chipped to five feet for a birdie on the par-five 15th and at ten under was three behind Ramsay in a tie for fifth.
