McGowan now seven clear in Madrid
Former English amateur champion Ross McGowan is in sight of his first European Tour title after an amazing third round of 60 at the Madrid Masters today.
The 27-year-old is a massive seven shots clear with 18 holes to go at Centro Nacional after Sergio Garcia fell away badly in front of his home fans.
McGowan had two eagles, 10 birdies and two bogeys to establish easily the biggest 54-hole lead of the year on the circuit. The previous biggest was four strokes.
Playing alongside him, world number eight Garcia - joint halfway leader with Scot David Drysdale - bogeyed four of the last seven holes to crash to ninth place, 10 behind.
Drysdale, meanwhile, managed "only" a 69 to leave England's Danny Willett and Frenchman Michael Lorenzo-Vera in joint second place.
It was the second 60 on the European Tour in under a month, but unlike the one by Rafael Cabrera-Bello to win the Austrian Open, McGowan's will not go down in the record books as placing was allowed on the fairways.
Already in eighth place in the Ryder Cup points race, McGowan said: "I can't believe it really.
"I just played my own game and didn't think about the score until I hit the second shot to the 18th.
"Then I thought 'Hang on - that was for 59'."
He hit it 18 feet past the flag and made the putt for his second eagle.
The world number 177 stands 24-under-par and the Tour record for 72 holes is Ernie Els' 29 under at the Johnnie Walker Classic in Australia six years ago.
McGowan, third in Switzerland at the start of last month and sixth in the Alfred Dunhill Links in Scotland last Monday, has now broken 70 in 10 of his last 11 rounds.
"I don't feel like I'm going to miss a shot unless I'm in the rough or get a silly lie," he added.
There was no hint of the collapse to come when Garcia began with back-to-back birdies and turned in 32.
That still left him one behind as McGowan covered the front nine in 30, but Garcia, yet to win this year and down from second in the world to eighth, bogeyed the 12th, 14th, 16th and 17th.
Drysdale took over as the closest challenger, but his hopes of a maiden Tour win nose-dived when he also dropped shots on the 16th and 17th while McGowan played the last four in five under.
Willett fired a 66 to move up from sixth, while Lorenzo-Vera's 64 took him alongside him in second spot from 10th - and could save his Tour career.
He is 133rd on the money list and needs to climb into the top 115.
McGowan's 24 under was one better than the Tour all-time record after 54 holes, although preferred lies were in operation for all three rounds and will be again on the last day.
