Sergio Garcia's lead cut to a shot

Sergio Garcia regained the lead after an extraordinary finish to the European Masters third round on Saturday and set up the prospect of another exciting battle with defending champion Luke Donald.

After slipping from the top of the leaderboard with a three-putt and a double-bogey six at the 17th, the Spaniard holed out with his approach to eagle the last and complete a level-par 71.

That left the world number six at 11-under-par 202, one ahead of British rank outsider Garry Houston, who posted a second successive 69.

Donald, who was eight strokes adrift of Garcia at one point on Saturday, got himself back into the mix by firing a 66 to finish at nine under, level with Denmark's Anders Hansen, who returned a 67.

Englishman Donald, who is staying at Garcia's home this week, was the first player to rouse the gallery over the closing stretch by covering the last seven holes in six under par, including an eagle-two at the 17th.

Soon after Donald signed his card, Garcia ran up his second double-bogey of the round when he three-putting from just nine feet on 17.

However, the 25-year-old Spaniard then emulated good friend Donald by holing his approach at the last to ensure that the pair, who had a ding-dong battle for the title last year, will play together in Sunday's final round.

Garcia conceded he had struggled badly after double-bogeying the fourth and was immensely relieved after holing out with a wedge from 111 yards at the last to produce an unexpected finale.

"There is no way I can play worse than I did today," said the Spaniard. "I felt like an eight-year-old again.

"I was pretty disgusted with the 17th but it was nice to at least finish with a sweeter taste."

Donald reignited his hopes of a successful title defence after an indifferent run over the first 11 holes, which featured 10 pars and a bogey at the par-four 10th.

"I'm right back in it," he said, after holing out for eagle with a wedge from 85 yards at the 17th. "I just wasn't very sharp yesterday and played the easy holes badly.

"I still gave Sergio a little nudge last night, though, and told him to watch the leaderboard because I would try and sneak back."

Houston produced a much calmer round than either Donald or Garcia.

The 34-year-old Briton, who has never finished higher than 183rd on Europe's money list and lies 433rd in the world rankings, could still provide the shock of the year.

"Compared to what I'm used to, it was a circus out there today," said Houston, whose own spectacular shot of the day came at the 10th where his ball hit a television tower before bouncing back on to the green for him to make a birdie three.

"Playing with Sergio was theatre and I suppose I thrived on it."

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