Fitzpatrick, Aphibarnrat tied for British Masters lead

He shot a 69 today to go into the weekend on 7-under par.

Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington slumped to a two over par 73 to sit way back – a full 10 shots off the lead going into the final day.

Niall Kearney and Graeme McDowell are 2-under, Paul Dunne is 1-under, and Michael Hoey is level.

Fitzpatrick has led after every round this week so far and began the third round on nine under alongside Kjeldsen but a 68 gave him a slender lead over the Dane and Zanotti who registered a 66. “I would love to get back in the winners’ circle again”, admitted the 37-year-old, who tumbled down the world rankings after leaving his long-time coach, Pat Goss, but has started to show signs of his old consistency since linking up with him again. “I’m looking forward to playing tomorrow”.

Lee Westwood, another former world number one, also put together his best round of the week when he carded a four-under 67 for a total of 206.

“With Rory I understood the commitments he had in America and we had external doctors verify the fact he couldn’t play in more tournaments (than the obligatory 13)”.

“I would just like to win any tournament to be honest, but it would be a little more special in the U.K”. “I’d love to shoot another round like this and if I did I think that might be good enough”.

“Some great names have won wire-to-wire and it would be nice to add mine to that”, Fitzpatrick said.

“I felt I was hitting the ball really well”, Donald said.

Poulter unsurprisingly chose home course Woburn as the venue for this week and despite suffering a dreaded shank for the second day running, carded a third round of 70 to finish five under par.

A largely uneventful opening nine holes saw the two-time Ryder Cup star drop a shot at the par four fourth hole as he went to the turn in 36.

Luke Donald surged into contention for his first European Tour victory in more than three years with a brilliant third round in the British Masters at Woburn.