Orr & Price tied into last round

Gary Orr and Phil Price will share the lead going into the final round of the Algarve Portuguese Open.

Price fired a course record 65 for a 10-under-par total of 206 while Orr, the overnight leader, recovered from a poor start to card a 70.

Ireland's Paul McGinley lies in third place on seven under after a 67 with Zimbabwe's Tony Johnstone a shot further back, one ahead of last year's runner-up John Bickerton, Mansfield's Greg Owen and Australian Wayne Riley.

Price was delighted and surprised by his error-free round.

"It took me a while, I hit a lot of balls and didn't really work it out on Friday but I hit a few more on Saturday morning and felt a little better," he said.

"I was not that confident about having a good round but I just started well, holing a 25ft putt on the first, and that seemed to get me going.

"I also made some crucial saves, especially on the 16th when I was up against a rock and hit a good chip to five feet. I was quite relieved just to get it on the green but it almost went in and I holed a good putt coming back."

A win on Sunday evening, and the winner's cheque of £103,000 would put Price in the driving seat to qualify for Colin Montgomerie's Great Britain and Ireland team in the inaugural Seve Ballesteros Trophy at Sunningdale in April.

"That's my main goal at the moment," said Price.

"I've got to be top Briton on the Order of Merit (not already qualified) by April 9th and hopefully I will be by then."

Orr, who has yet to win in seven years on the European Tour, let nerves get the better of him as he stumbled to an outward nine of 38.

"I got out of jail today," he admitted "I had 19 putts going out and 11 coming back. You can't expect to do that all the time so I'll have to play better golf on Sunday, simple as that.

"If I can play like I did in the first two rounds I'll be in with a chance. I three-putted the first and hit into some bushes on the second and after that I was really just trying to hang in at that stage.

"I had in my mind to get it back to par for the day so two under is a bonus. Sometimes you get more pleasure out of doing that then when you're playing well, struggling but still making a score"

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