Houston makes his move

Garry Houston moved swiftly up the leaderboard in the third round of the Madeira Island Open.

The 34-year-old Welshman started with a birdie at the 10th to move to eight under.

That left him two shots adrift of joint overnight leaders Jarmo Sandelin and Jean Van de Velde, who both began with pars.

Houston has spent the last few months playing in the Middle East and Asia with limited success.

He missed the cut in his last event, the Singapore Masters, after finishing joint 19th in the Indonesia Open.

Houston looked in danger of losing his exempt status last season but he tied for fourth in the Omega European Masters to finish 100th in the Order of Merit.

The players had been left frustrated because of bad weather at the hilltop Santo da Serra course, which caused a four-hour delay.

The opening two groups were immediately hampered by poor visibility and had to return to the clubhouse after playing the first hole.

Gary Murphy and Felipe Aguilar of Chile as well as South Africa’s Hennie Otto and Stuart Little were affected by the poor weather.