Defending champion Lee Westwood goes into the final round tied for the lead with fellow Englishman Ian Poulter in his bid to make Volvo Scandinavian Masters history by winning the title for a third time.
Westwood added a 69 to his two opening rounds of 67 to move to 13 under par, a 54 hole total matched by playing partner Poulter who carded a four under par 68 in the third round.
The European Number One is one of only three players to have won the title twice but neither Colin Montgomerie nor Jesper Parnevik - the other two players with two Volvo Scandinavian Masters triumphs under their belts - have successfully defended the title or won three times in total.
Westwood picked up four birdies, including one on the last, with just the one dropped shot on the 13th as he chases his first title of the season.
But first he must overcome the challenge from Poulter, last season’s Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year, who won the Italian Open last October and the Moroccan Open earlier this season. Poulter shot a flawless 68 as he chases the victory that would lift him from 20th into the top ten of the Ryder Cup points table.
They lead by a shot from Montgomerie and Sweden’s Peter Hedblom, winner of the Volvo Finnish Open on the Challenge Tour last month. Hedblom, who has only won once on The European Tour with victory in the 1996 Moroccan Open, gave the massive home crowds plenty to cheer about when produced a blistering scoring burst to take an early lead on a sweltering afternoon at Barseback Golf and Country Club.
Five birdies in six holes from the second gave Hedblom a two shot lead at one stage before his first mistake of the day on the par four ninth hole. From thick rough to the right of the fairway the 31 year old could only find a greenside bunker and failed to get up and down to save par. That left him on 12 under par where he remained after his only birdie of the back nine on the 12th was cancelled by a dropped shot on the very next hole.
Montgomerie joined Hedblom a shot off the lead after holing a 42 foot putt on the final green to complete a round of 69.
Former Open champion Paul Lawrie, without a win since his triumph at Carnoustie two years ago, was a further shot adrift on 11 under par after carding seven birdies while last week’s runner-up Warren Bennett, Thomas Levet, the Victor Chandler British Masters Champion, and Smurfit European Open champion, Darren Clarke, are all in contention on ten under par.
