France’s Romain Wattel took over at the top of the KLM Open leaderboard midway through a rollercoaster third round in The Netherlands.
Halfway leader Pablo Larrazábal, who started the day two clear after his brilliant course record 62 on Friday, appeared to be making serene progress as he followed six opening pars with a birdie at the long seventh.
But an errant tee shot at the short eighth found thick rough, from where the Spaniard could only salvage a quadruple bogey seven which sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.
Playing partner Wattel, chasing a first European Tour title having recorded 15 top-ten finishes, swooped into the lead with a hat-trick of gains from the sixth which culminated in a 30 foot putt on the eighth.
He was joined on 11 under by England’s Paul Casey, who fired nine birdies in a 62 which matched Larrazábal’s course record.
It might have been even better - at the ninth, his last, the former Ryder Cup star’s approach narrowly missed the pin and spun off the green, from where he took three for a first bogey of the day.
And Wattel then doubled his advantage when he holed from 15 feet at the tenth to be four under for the day and 12 under for the week.
That was two ahead of clubhouse leader Casey, with Wattel’s compatriot Gary Stal, Italians Andrea Pavan and Edoardo Molinari, Belgian Thomas Pieters, German Max Kieffer and Americans Peter Uihlein and Brooks Koepka all sharing third on eight under.
