Boyd charges clear in Spain

Room-mates Gary Boyd and John Parry both shot rounds of 63 to equal the course record at the Castello Masters in Spain.

Boyd’s eight-under-par round took him to 14 under and he is two shots clear of the pack going into the final day.

Parry had earlier shot the same score to take him to nine under after three rounds, but it will need a similar round tomorrow if the Yorkshireman is to have a chance of winning.

Boyd, from Northamptonshire, said: “John’s my room-mate and he has been doing fantastic the last few weeks and we’ve been feeding off each other and trying to move up the Order of Merit every week and it seems to be working.

“There’s three or four of my friends out here who have won and I’m the only one who’s left out at the moment.”

Boyd, 24, is in impressive form after three top-10 finishes in his last six tournaments.

There is still however a chance for the European Tour to have a youngest-ever winner after Matteo Manassero, the 17-year-old Italian, ended the day in joint second place with Sweden’s Christian Nilsson, two shots behind Boyd.

Nilsson and Manassero had rounds of 66 and 67 respectively, with England’s Richard Finch (67), Ireland’s Peter Lawrie (67) and Spain’s Alvaro Velasco (68) another two shots further back on 10 under.