The Brazilian leads the way ahead of two-time Legends Tour winner James Kingston on nine under par and Sweden’s first Ryder Cup player Joakim Haeggman on eight under par along with Swedish counterpart and two-time DP World Tour winner Michael Jonzon.
Da Silva a 12-time Sunshine Tour winner had to remain composed on moving day at Formby Golf Club having led the way since the first day, but with help from his caddie and keeping a positive attitude throughout he managed to post below 70 once again.
“It was entertaining,” Da Silva said. “It felt like a little long today, so it was difficult to keep the focus going but my caddie has been so good he kept saying ‘come on one more good putt, one more good shot’ so that helped me a lot and then also I managed to hit a lot of fairways again today putting was good in places and I just kept my cool it was enjoyable.
“At this stage I am feeling okay I am trying not to think too much about it, I’m just trying to get on with my thing and play well and if I deserve to win then so be it.”
The 50-year-old has only recorded one single bogey in his three rounds thus far, with three birdies and a chip-in eagle on the eighth hole making up his score of 67.
“I hit such a good shot,” he said. “I didn’t think it would be long but this course, a links course you can get a very hard bounce or soft bounce and sometimes you get lucky sometimes you don’t.”
Finishing his third round in fifth position was England’s Phillip Archer on six under par, with Italy’s Emanuele Canonica taking up sixth position on five under par and Englishman Simon Khan finishing on four under par in seventh position.
The third round cut fell at six over par, with 61 players surviving to compete in the final round which will begin at 8:30am local time with Da Silva making up the final group with Kingston and Haeggman and 11:50am.
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