At one under par the 29-year-old from Port Elizabeth, who came through the European tour qualifying school last November, was only four behind leader Stephen Dodd, having begun the day in a tie for 57th.

Essex's Simon Khan, fined a record €11,600 for slow play on Thursday, was only one stroke further back after birdies at the third and fifth, but then came a double bogey six on the next.

Not surprisingly, the biggest crowd until the leaders set off went with Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington, playing together after reaching halfway at one over.

Both opened with two pars and the main Irish hope remained Paul McGinley, who shared sixth place on three under and is now tied in seventh on -3.

Moore, who started out three over par, improved to eighth on two under when he had his seventh birdie of the day on the short 17th.

Jose Maria Olazabal, playing his first event of the year in Europe after a successful time in the States, birdied the second and third to be one under, but Harrington and Clarke fell back to three over when both double-bogeyed the 394-yard sixth.

Harrington is now on par after 13 holes while Clarke is on -2 after 13.

Course designer Colin Montgomerie did not have the best of starts either, an opening bogey putting him one over.

Former winner David Carter was five under for the day and two under overall when he followed an eagle on the fourth with a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th.

Olazabal, like Montgomerie with two weeks to climb into the world's top 50 and become exempt for the US Open, had his third birdie at the sixth to be two under.