Birdie blitz lifts Wiesberger

Lisbon - A barrage of birdies midway through his third round lifted Austrian Bernd Wiesberger into a one-shot lead at the Portugal Masters on Saturday.

The 27-year-old Wiesberger, bidding for his third title of the season following victories in his homeland and South Korea, picked up six birdies in seven holes from the eighth to fire a six-under-par 65 for a 13-under aggregate of 200.

Overnight leader Ross Fisher (69) was in second place, three strokes ahead of fellow Englishman Richard Finch (66), former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell (67) of New Zealand and Ireland's Shane Lowry (67).

European Ryder Cup vice-captain Miguel Angel Jimenez (68) was also on the fringes of contention on eight-under 205.

"After seven holes I was not thinking about a 65," Wiesberger told reporters on the Algarve. "I hit some horrible wedges early on but I grinded through that and hit better shots around the turn.

"I then played beautifully on the back nine and my score could have been even lower."

Leaderboard:

200 - Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 70-65-65

201 - Ross Fisher 65-67-69

204 - Michael Campbell (NZL) 68-69-67, Shane Lowry 67-70-67, Richard Finch 70-68-66

205 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 69-68-68, Mark Foster 71-67-67

206 - Christian Nilsson (SWE) 67-70-69, Andrew Dodt (AUS) 72-70-64, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP) 68-71-67, Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) 67-69-70

207 - Anthony Wall 68-71-68, George Murray 66-76-65, Stephen Gallacher 65-70-72, Richard Green (AUS) 70-68-69, Markus Brier (AUT) 69-71-67, Padraig Harrington 69-67-71

208 - Francesco Molinari (ITA) 71-71-66, Thomas Aiken (RSA) 68-71-69, Peter Whiteford 70-71-67, Marcel Siem (GER) 72-68-68, Keith Horne (RSA) 69-72-67, Lorenzo Gagli (ITA) 72-69-67, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 70-70-68, Oscar Floren (SWE) 73-68-67

209 - Ricardo Gonzalez (ARG) 69-72-68, Andy Sullivan 72-69-68, Ricardo Melo Gouveia (POR) 70-72-67, George Coetzee (RSA) 69-73-67, Scott Jamieson 71-70-68

Selected

210 - Hennie Otto (RSA) 70-71-69

211 - Shaun Micheel (USA) 74-68-69

212 - Matthew Zions (AUS) 70-72-70

213 - Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 70-70-73, Rich Beem (USA) 70-72-71

215 - Jbe Kruger (RSA) 67-71-77