Mads Vibe-Hastrup led the early charge at the Estoril Open de Portugal as a congested field looked to close the gap on overnight leader Ross McGowan.
The Danish European Tour member made a dramatic move early on day three at Oitavos Dunes as he rocketed from two over, having just made the cut on Friday, into second place with a storming six under par 65.
Vibe-Hastrup had been one of a clutch of players propping up an entire field separated by only seven strokes from leader McGowan, however the Dane fired three birdies on the front nine to rocket up the leaderboard.
He collected a bogey at the par five eighth before regaining his composure to birdie the par three 12th and 14th holes and register an eagle at the downwind 539 yard par five 16th.
His 65 propelled him into a tie for second on four under par, along with Chris Doak and Carlos Del Moral.
“I just played well,” said Vibe-Hastrup afterwards.
“My putter was really good today and it was yesterday. I was two under with seven to play yesterday, and in the top ten. Then suddenly I made a double bogey and almost missed the cut.
“I holed some really good putts yesterday and kept that going today.
“It was pretty windy so it was amazing to shoot such a good score. I played really well.”
José Manuel Lara was another to put himself in contention as he climbed from joint 55th into a tie for tenth thanks to a solid four under par 67.
The Spaniard, who also just survived the cut on two over yesterday, emerged early on in superb form to recover from an initial bogey at the tough par four fifth.
He birdied the next, eagled the long seventh and then added further birdies on the 10th and 13th.
Lara`s clubhouse score of two under par left him trailing leader McGowan by three shots.
