Stone holds two-shot lead in Vilamoura

Brandon Stone will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Portugal Masters after carding a score of 66 on Saturday. The South African has been a picture of consistency in Vilamoura this week. He has only dropped two shots to date although one of those bogies did come early in his third round. However, the 26-year-old recovered from that setback as he recorded six birdies during the remainder of his round to sign for his third consecutive score of 66 and move on to 15-under for the tournament. Stone’s compatriot Dean Burmester and England’s Oliver Fisher, who had held the lead heading into the weekend, are the nearest challengers to the leader, two shots back on 13-under. Burmester produced a second successive score of 65 to move into contention, with the highlight of his third round coming at the par-five fifth as he registered an eagle. Fisher’s day was not so successful although he did recover from three successive bogies on his front nine to sign for a one-under-par score of 70. Another Englishman, Steven Brown, is a shot further back on 12-under, while a group of four players, Justin Walters, Jeunghun Wang, George Coetzee and Haydn Porteous, will head into Sunday’s final round at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course four shots off the lead.