Els ready to make a move

Ernie Els set out to prove today that 10 shots behind at halfway is not the point to give up hopes of winning.

The Open champion started his third round in the Omega European Masters in Switzerland with an eagle at the 543-yard first and then a two at the 192-yard third.

Having survived the halfway cut with only two strokes to spare, Els jumped to four under par and from 40th into a share of 13th spot.

The brilliant opening still left him seven behind overnight leader Robert Karlsson, the Swede’s first two rounds of 65 and 66 putting him four clear of nearest challengers Andrew Coltart and Klas Eriksson.

Crans-sur-Sierre was the scene of one of the greatest comebacks in European Tour history, Kent’s Jamie Spence winning 10 years ago after starting the final round 10 adrift of Colin Montgomerie.

Spence equalled the tour record round with his closing 60 then, but the course has been toughened up – controversially – since and the record tour aggregate of 27 under par set by Canadian Jerry Anderson in 1984 was not under threat.

Els has been on the wrong end of such a feat. He led Tiger Woods by eight in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Asia with a round to go four years ago, but lost in a play-off.

Els added another birdie at the 341-yard fifth and with that improved to five under and eighth place.

Retief Goosen, the fellow South African he leads at the top of the European Order of Merit, was down on one over and so the gap between them – currently just over £300,000 (€476,590) – looked set to widen further.