Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke is aiming for his first European Tour title since 2003

The former Ryder Cup player from Northern Ireland is nine-under for the tournament, a total of 207, giving him a lead over Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen by the slimmest of margins.
 
Derksen fired a three-under 69 to finish a stroke above Briton Robert Dinwiddie, who shot a best-of-week 66 to move to outright third, two strokes above Taiwan's Lin Wen-tang.

"I played really, really well today. I was very pleased with the way I hit the ball," Clarke told reporters.

Clarke, chasing his first European Tour win since the WGC-NEC International in Ohio in 2003, holed five evenly spaced birdies but could have had more.

"I would have liked to have shot lower and gave myself enough opportunities but I am not going to complain."

Dinwiddie soared into contention after a hot streak of five birdies in six holes on the back nine, with a double-bogey on the seventh the only blemish on his card.

"I putted very, very well for those last 10 holes and pretty much one-putted every green," said the 25-year-old, chasing his first European Tour win.

Zhang falls back

Taiwanese Lin charged out of the blocks with three birdies on his first three holes, then finished strongly with consecutive birdies on the 16th and 17th after stumbling with a double-bogey on the 10th.

Lin's seven-birdie three-under 69 gave him a two-stroke advantage over a group of players tied for fourth on 213, including China's Hu Mu and Australian Peter O'Malley.

Overnight leader Zhang Lianwei of China fell out of contention with a bogey-littered four-over 76, and trails Clarke by eight.

Retief Goosen, two-time US Open champion, trailed by seven strokes after carding an even-par 72.

Former world number one Greg Norman of Australia was three further adrift after posting a one-over par 73.

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