Nine more players were within four shots of the lead and with the likes of Sergio Garcia and Nick Dougherty not out of the reckoning, a close battle looked on the cards.

But the leading trio made an explosive start to their third rounds this afternoon and looked set to fight it out amongst themselves for the €263,000 first prize - and for Karlsson at least, plenty of valuable Ryder Cup points.

The Swede opened with a birdie at the first but that was not enough to hold on to his overnight cushion, playing partner Romero making an eagle on the 543-yard par five to join Karlsson on 11 under.

In the group behind Els had also birdied the first and second made it a three-way tie with another on the fifth, but moments later Romero holed from four feet on the same hole to edge clear.

Back came Els with another birdie on the seventh, the world number two driving the green on the 330-yard par four and two-putting from long range.

Surprisingly Romero and Karlsson both failed to follow suit leaving Els and Romero 12 under and Karlsson a shot behind.

It looked as though the third member of the final group, Michael Campbell, was going to get in on the act when he birdied the first, but the New Zealander then bogeyed the next three holes.

South African Trevor Immelman, like Campbell annoyed at being overlooked for a place in the Rest of the World's Presidents Cup team, also got off to a bad start, dropping shots at the first three holes before birdies at the fifth and seventh.

The nearest challenger to the leading trio was now Lancashire's Paul Eales, down in 135th on the Order of Merit and in search of a good finish to secure his card for next season.

Eales opened with seven pars before a birdie on the eighth took him to eight under, four off the lead.