Girona - Miguel Angel Jimenez, who last year became the oldest winner on the European Tour at the age of 49, moved into contention for his 21st victory on the circuit after the third round of the Spanish Open in Girona on Saturday.
The 50-year-old Spaniard carded a three-under-par 69 for a five-under total of 211 to close within two strokes of tournament leader, unheralded Belgian Thomas Pieters (71).
British pair Richie Ramsay and Chris Wood were one shot further back on 212 along with Australian Richard Green.
World number 34 Jimenez would have ended the day as joint leader but for dropped strokes at the 15th and 18th.
"I'm a little disappointed with that," the Hong Kong Open champion told reporters. "I didn't hit it very well the last few holes.
"I played very well the first nine and was solid until the 14th but made a bad bogey on the 15th where I three-putted from eight yards."
Scores from the European Tour Spanish Open:
209 - Thomas Pieters (Belgium) 69 69 71
211 - Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 69 73 69
212 - Chris Wood (Britain) 73 70 69 Richie Ramsay (Britain) 69 72 71 Richard Green (Australia) 74 69 69
213 - Ross Fisher (Britain) 70 76 67 Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 74 70 69 Richard Bland (Britain) 73 68 72 Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 70 69 74 Maximilian Kieffer (Germany) 75 69 69
214 - Magnus Carlsson (Sweden) 72 74 68
215 - Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 69 74 72 Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) 74 72 69 Francesco Molinari (Italy) 73 67 75
216 - Paul McGinley (Ireland) 72 72 72 Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 72 74 70 Alvaro Velasco (Spain) 75 73 68 Gareth Maybin (Britain) 73 70 73 Sergio Garcia (Spain) 69 74 73 Raphael Jacquelin (France) 73 72 71 Alexander Noren (Sweden) 71 72 73 Mikko Korhonen (Finland) 74 69 73 Paul Lawrie (Britain) 70 72 74 Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 77 66 73 Tom Lewis (Britain) 72 75 69
217 - Gregory Havret (France) 71 75 71 Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 72 76 69 Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 74 67 76 Wade Ormsby (Australia) 72 74 71 Marc Warren (Britain) 75 70 72 Jordi Garcia Pinto (Spain) 70 73 74 Andrea Pavan (Italy) 74 72 71
218 - Shane Lowry (Ireland) 72 74 72 Daan Huizing (Netherlands) 71 76 71 Eddie Pepperell (Britain) 68 71 79 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 69 75 74 Adrian Otaegui (Spain) 73 71 74 Kevin Phelan (Ireland) 76 71 71 Tyrrell Hatton (Britain) 73 74 71 Carlos Pigem (Spain) 73 71 74
219 Graeme Storm (Britain) 71 76 72 Seve Benson (Britain) 74 73 72 Craig Lee (Britain) 73 75 71 Jbe Kruger (South Africa) 70 78 71 Danny Willett (Britain) 70 75 74 Pedro Oriol (Spain) 75 73 71 David Higgins (Ireland) 73 74 72 Matteo Manassero (Italy) 74 71 74 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) 73 75 71