• Andalucia Masters, Round Three

Garcia on course for back-to-back wins

Sergio Garcia won the Castello Masters earlier this month © Getty Images

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Sergio Garcia is in the ideal position to complete back-to-back victories on the European Tour after he opened up a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Andalucia Masters.

With the course at Valderrama causing players no end of difficulties during their third round on Saturday, Garcia put his ball in the right spots and took his chances when they came - eventually picking up four shots on the way to an impressive round of 67, which was good enough for a six-under total.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself," Garcia said afterwards. "Hopefully I can come out and have the same feelings and mentality [as last week] and my best will be good enough."

The Spaniard is looking to claim his second successive title after winning the Castello Masters by an 11-shot margin last week, and quickly improved his chances of doing so after reaching four-under through 14 holes.

He ran into real trouble on the treacherous par-five 17th - seeing his second shot find rocks on the fringes of the greenside water, from which he played his third shot - but he cancelled out the resultant bogey with a fine birdie at the last to make himself the man to beat come Sunday.

"It obviously was risky, but I liked my chances of getting up and down better from there than the drop zone," he said of his escapades at the 17th. "After I three-putted the fifth I came straight back with a birdie, so to have that bouncebackability is always nice."

Garcia will be paired with Swede Christian Nilsson for the final round, after Nilsson put himself in a promising position to claim his first European Tour win since the co-sanctioned Saint-Omer Open in 2009 with an impressive round of 65.

Five birdies in a six-hole stretch as he reached the turn set Nilsson - whose best finish this season was third at the recent Portugal Masters - on his way, with birdies at both the 17th and 18th ultimately leaping him into the final two-ball.

He was helped by late stumbles from both Miguel Angel Jimenez and Richie Ramsay, however, after the Spaniard saw his round of 68 - which contained two eagles but no birdies - marred slightly by a late bogey, as he dropped level with Nilsson at four-under.

Ramsay will be even more frustrated, however, as he found alongside Garcia atop the leaderboard with just two holes remaining before falling foul of both the 17th and 18th in what could prove a costly end to his third round. The Scot will begin the final 18 holes three-under for the tournament.

There is a three-shot gap between those four men and the rest of the field, with Englishman Steve Webster (66) the only other player to remain at par or better. Stephen Gallacher, Alejandro Canizares and Shane Lowry are all one-over, while the top ten is completed by a number of familiar faces, as David Howell, Ross Fisher and Francesco Molinari all gear themselves up for concerted pushes on the final day.

Martin Kaymer and Matteo Manassero both sit six-over for the tournament, after rounds of 73 and 70 respectively.

Justin Rose is four-over after a round of 74, while former US Open champion Graeme McDowell looks set for a weekend to forget after he carded a third round of 81 to plummet out of contention.

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