Alvaro Quiros intends to ride his luck all the way to the Qatar Masters title after storming into a one-stroke lead with a stunning bogey-free third round of 64.
The 26-year-old Spaniard is renowned for his big-hitting but was pleased to show a deft touch on the greens in his eight-under-par round, which helped propel October's Portugal Masters champion to 16 under for the tournament - a shot clear of second-round leader Louis Oosthuizen.
In-form South African Oosthuizen set the standard with a flawless 65 on Friday and remains in the hunt for a maiden European Tour title. He battled to a 69 despite a disastrous four-putt on the fifth green which saw him ship a double-bogey six.
It was also not plain sailing for Quiros who after charging to the top of the leaderboard with five birdies in eight holes fortunately avoided a one-stroke penalty on the ninth fairway despite sending a wayward drive up a tree.
Quiros' luck escaped him in Abu Dhabi last week but after watching an attempted lay-up rebound off a rock and back onto the fairway on Friday, this time he was handed a free drop instead of the usual one-shot penalty as the tree was staked.
He almost took full advantage of the break as he left a birdie putt on the edge of the hole, despite hacking his second shot onto a cart path.
"It's been my lucky week," said the beaming Spaniard.
"I can't remember the last time I won, but I hope it's going to be a new day, and with a bit of luck I will be fighting for the trophy. But this is golf and you have to wait until it's your week.
"Last year I was hitting the ball well and the scores never arrived except the last four months of the year.
"I made silly mistakes on the course yesterday but it was good and today was just a great day of putting. I missed two or three short putts but I made two or three long ones."
Despite seeing a three-shot second-round lead eliminated, Oosthuizen remained upbeat despite his "up and down" day which included five birdies.
After making a late charge to finish a narrow second in Abu Dhabi last week, he is perfectly placed to add a European Tour title to the five tournaments he has won in South Africa.
"I think one behind is a good spot. If you are three or four ahead everyone is really thinking you have to win. One behind is a nice spot to put myself in with 18 holes left," he said.
"Alvaro shot an unbelievable round. It will be nice playing with him. It will be the two of us head-to-head."
Holland's Maarten Lafeber and 2006 Qatar champion Henrik Stenson sit well placed at 12 under after recording matching 66s, while inaugural Qatar champion Andrew Coltart finished strongly with two birdies in three holes to card a 70 and lie just a shot further back.
Stenson fell victim to Adam Scott's course record of 61 last year which handed the Australian the title and relegated the Swede to runner-up, and he knows it will need to be his turn tomorrow to halt Quiros.
"Yesterday was a struggle but the first day was okay and today was the best I've played all week. I am definitely making a big step in the right direction," said Stenson.
"Anything can happen on the last day and if I shoot a good score I might have an outside chance.
"But it's going to take one of Adam Scott's rounds to threaten Alvaro. But Adam did it to me last year so hopefully I can return the favour to somebody else this year."
World number two Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Australia's Aaron Baddeley all found their form at the right time with 67s but head into the final round seven adrift at nine under.
Collated third round scores & totals at Doha GC, Doha, Qatar
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par: 72)
200 Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 69 67 64
201 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 67 65 69
204 Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 70 66, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 66 72 66
205 Andrew Coltart 66 69 70
207 Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 68 72 67, Anders Hansen (Den) 67 72 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 66 71 70, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 70 70 67, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 69 69 69, Lee Westwood 67 73 67, Paul Broadhurst 68 70 69
208 Damien McGrane 69 69 70, Robert Dinwiddie 67 73 68, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (Spa) 69 72 67, Johan Edfors (Swe) 72 67 69
209 Brett Rumford (Aus) 67 69 73, Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 71 66, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 73 67, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 70 69 70, Thomas Levet (Fra) 71 70 68
210 Anthony Wall 70 70 70, Stephen Gallacher 72 69 69, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 69 72 69
211 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 72 71, Hennie Otto (Rsa) 73 69 69, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 71 70, Nick Dougherty 68 72 71, Simon Dyson 72 70 69, Bradley Dredge 74 67 70
212 Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 70 71 71, Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 69 71, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 70 72 70, Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 71 72 69, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 70 68 74
213 Francesco Molinari (Ita) 72 70 71, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 71 71, Adam Scott (Aus) 73 70 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 72 71 70, Markus Brier (Aut) 70 71 72, Mads Vibe-Hastrup (Den) 73 71 69, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 71 70 72
214 Rory McIlroy 76 68 70, Richard Finch 73 67 74, Ernie Els (Rsa) 70 71 73, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 73 70 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 71 72 71, Ross McGowan 73 66 75, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 73 70
215 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 72 71 72, Gary Murphy 71 71 73, David Howell 71 71 73, Paul Lawrie 72 71 72, Marcel Siem (Ger) 72 71 72, Danny Willett 73 71 71, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 71 73 71, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 69 71 75
216 Stephen Dodd 70 72 74, Oliver Wilson 69 73 74, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 70 73 73, Jamie Donaldson 70 73 73
217 Scott Strange (Aus) 72 71 74, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 73 71 73, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 73 71 73
218 Steve Webster 72 71 75, Ross Fisher 71 71 76
219 Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 76 68 75
220 Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 68 75 77
221 Graeme Storm 72 72 77
ACE PRIZE FOR QUIROS
COLTART STAYS ON TRACK
Eagles RB Westbrook won’t practice, will start
