Lawrie had made it halfway through his third round in 40 blows and despite dropping the sixth shot of his round at the 10th hole he would rally and recover on his way back in.
Birdes at 11 and 15 before two more back-to-back to finish off his round, ensured that he would end the day as he started it – at the top of the leaderboard.
“Sometimes you get runs of golf that you hit some poor shots and you do things that you don’t think you’re capable of doing and that all happened today. I played horrendous for the first five holes – I think I was four over after 5! You just can’t believe it sometimes, but as a professional golfer it’s part of your job. You have to sometimes you have to just get on with it.
“Give yourself a weak total to and try and salvage something, it’s a job at the end of the day. So, to finish the way I did and make some birdies and give myself a little bit of breathing space again was obviously rewarding. This game, I mean, it shows you how good the course is and how tough it is.
“Been there so many times in my career and you’ve just got to grind it out, dig it out and do your job to try and salvage the score as best as you can, to make it easier for you the next day. Just like a Friday afternoon when you’re trying to make the cut – you’ve got to just do your best.
“My golf at the minute has been quite a lot like that, I’m either really good or really bad at the minute. There’s very little in the middle. Today was exactly what my golf has been like. Yesterday was pretty good all day, Thursday was up and down quite a bit and today was up and down quite a bit. So tomorrow, I’m going to have a good day!
“We’ve got another round to go, four shots can very quickly go as I proved today. You know how quickly that can go. There is a long way to go, but I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“I’m in good stead tomorrow, I know exactly how tough it’s going to be – winning is not easy. I am going to have to play well and that’s my plan.”
His playing partners would endure a tough time out on the links too – Robert Coles with a round of 75, although he remains in second place, and Gary Orr who would sign for a 76 to drop into a share of 9th place.
Simon Khan would card a level-par round of 72 to see him into second place alongside Coles heading into the final round.
The Englishman played well here last year and was out in the final group. Now he’s one of just four players under par going into the final round:
“It was windy early on the front nine, the first few holes were tough – then, you know, you do get a bit of respite in the middle. There were a few downwind holes, but it’s still tricky to hit it close on those greens because they are really firming up. It felt like it calmed down a lot towards the end, which almost sort of threw me a little bit because you’re used to playing into the wind.
“You think level-par wouldn’t do much today, but it has kept me in there and in with a fighting chance.
“Last year I was in the final group as well with Peter Baker and I lost my ball on the seventh – someone picked it up and walked off with it, which was nice! But I take a bit from last year, I know it was a bad day, but I think I’ll just go out and play my game and relax.”
Alex Cejka is the only other player under par. The German made a Saturday 73 to add to back-to-back rounds of 71 on Thursday and Friday.
Four players are level-par before the final round begins – including Adilson da Silva, who secured the joint best score of the day with a 68 (-4). The Brazilian won on the Legends Tour just five weeks ago at the OFX Irish Legends at Seapoint Golf Links, while he led into the final round at the Swiss Seniors Open a fortnight ago.
“I just managed to hole a couple of putts, because I’ve been struggling really bad on the greens in the first two rounds. Today, I didn’t start really good and then after three holes I had to had a chat with myself, “Come on, wake up!”, because I still have a chance there for birdies.
“From there on I just managed to get my head back into what I was trying to do and then playing it shot by shot. It’s a good test and the wind hasn’t really blown that hard yet. So, you know it’s a breeze, but it’s still it’s like a two-club breeze at least – it’s tricky.
“Mentally this game is such a big deal, I started off playing bad in the first round and you think all you see is not the hole, everything else.
“I was just telling my caddie, we just need to keep going – just keep your head down and keep going. This course is so punishing, you know, and I’m just going to try to stick with the plan and make some putts.
“It would be amazing to win here, it’s such a good field this year – to win again with these guys around it will be quite a challenge for me.”
Tournament host Colin Montgomerie is inside the top ten after a round of 73 to put him into the group sharing 9th place on one-over-par.
