Bob MacIntyre finishes with flourish to stay in hunt in Myrtle Beach Classic

After following an opening 64 with an equally-pleasing 67, the Oban man started the day one off the lead, held by Chris Gotterup after the American finished with four straight birdies in the second circuit.

It wasn’t the start MacIntrye had been looking for on day three when he took a 5 at the first despite being just over 100 yards from the hole with his opening blow of the day in the $4 million event.

But, after following that by reeling off eight straight pars to turn in 36, the 27-year-old found his stride on the back nine. He holed a 12-footer for a first birdie of the day at the tenth before moving up a gear over the closing stretch.

A two-putt birdie at the par-5 15th was followed by 10 footer dropping for a birdie at the next hole before making it three gains on the spin by hitting his tee shot to around two-and-a-half feet for a 2 at the 17th.

A solid par to finish added up to a three-under 68 for a 14-under total, leaving MacIntyre joint-second and trailing Gotterup, who birdied the last for a 65, by four shots heading into the final round.

“Obviously a little bit behind, but there's another day to go,” said MacIntyre. “I didn't hit bad shots at the first actually. I hit a decent tee shot, just the bounce in the rough kicked it right and underneath a tree. Difficult shot from there.

“But I made one bogey the first round. I made one bogey the second round. When I bogeyed the first, walking to the second tee, I said to Scott [Carmichael, his caddie] that's my one bogey gone, and I only had one bogey. I just had to stay patient. I knew there were going to be lots of chances. It's just about giving yourself as many as you can.”

As Gotterup chases a maiden win, South African Erik van Rooyen (65) and Spaniard Jorge Campillo (67) are both on the same mark as MacIntyre.