Perez and Southgate set for St Andrews battle 11:18, 30/09/2019

The famous St Andrews Old Course will play host on the final day and with the wind set to kick up, it will be all to play for amongst the chasing pack which features Paul Waring, who sits in outright second place, American Ryder Cup player Tony Finau and former World Number One Luke Donald.

But it will be Perez and Southgate in pole position at the Home of Golf, as they sit atop the leaderboard with a two-stroke advantage on 20 under par.

Perez, who lives with his partner in nearby Dundee will be vying for a first European Tour victory in his rookie season, having graduated from the European Challenge Tour last year. The 27-year-old carded an eight under 64 at Kingsbarns Golf Links which included a run of five successive birdies.

Victor Perez: “It was awesome. Bit windier today. Out of all the courses, we got a bit fortunate to play here today, being a bit wider off the tee. Maybe the guys at Carnoustie would have been the tougher course today.

“I played great and hit the ball really well. Felt like I made a couple putts. I didn't make any bombs out there or anything. Missed a short one on eight but the rest of the ball-striking was class today and I was really pleased with obviously nine birdies again.”

Southgate, meanwhile, is making his 140^th appearance on Tour and the closest he has come was a share of second place at the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open. The 30-year-old signed for a seven under 65 at the Old Course after finishing with a birdie at the ninth, his 18^th.

Matthew Southgate: “Didn't miss many shots and got the speed of the greens really good. Set up so many chances. I was always bound to make a good fistful of them. Not much you can say really. Just really solid all day.

“My swing feels very solid. I feel very happy in my own head at the minute and playing with such a clear mind and just easy swing thoughts. The biggest job tomorrow is going to be keeping me in check rather than the golf swing. I'm hitting the ball fantastic the first three days, so there's no reason why I can't shoot another good score.

“Someone is going to post a good number, so it's going to take a good score to get the win. I'm so passionate about winning tournaments and being here at the Home of Golf, tomorrow is going to be a difficult one to just keep myself in check and keep producing what I have done the first three days.”

Round three scores:

196 V Perez (Fra) 64 68 64, M Southgate (Eng) 65 66 65,
198 P Waring (Eng) 65 68 65,
199 T Finau (USA) 67 66 66, J Lagergren (Swe) 69 62 68,
200 J Smith (Eng) 64 68 68, L Donald (Eng) 68 68 64, A Pavan (Ita) 68 65 67,
201 M Jordan (Eng) 66 64 71, T Hatton (Eng) 66 68 67, J Wang (Kor) 70 65 66, L Bjerregaard (Den) 67 68 66, C Hill (Sco) 66 65 70,
202 R Ramsay (Sco) 65 67 70, R Knox (Sco) 66 66 70, J Rose (Eng) 68 64 70,
203 A Noren (Swe) 69 66 68, H Li (Chn) 71 68 64, R Macintyre (Sco) 71 66 66, P Harrington (Irl) 69 68 66, A Rai (Eng) 68 66 69, M Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 67 67, S Lowry (Irl) 73 66 64, C Shinkwin (Eng) 72 68 63,
204 B Hebert (Fra) 73 64 67, R Gouveia (Por) 70 67 67, T Detry (Bel) 72 69 63, S Soderberg (Swe) 71 64 69, D Willett (Eng) 72 66 66, R Karlsson (Swe) 67 70 67, E Pepperell (Eng) 70 66 68,
205 R Karlberg (Swe) 69 68 68, J Veerman (USA) 72 63 70, R Jacquelin (Fra) 69 69 67, T Fleetwood (Eng) 66 69 70, R Fox (Nzl) 64 68 73, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 65 72, V Dubuisson (Fra) 68 67 70, T Lewis (Eng) 70 70 65,
206 H Hall (Eng) 70 68 68, L Slattery (Eng) 68 66 72, A Quiros (Esp) 70 70 66, Z Lombard (RSA) 67 68 71, R McIlroy (Nir) 70 66 70, M Kinhult (Swe) 66 70 70, M Wallace (Eng) 70 68 68, W Besseling (Ned) 68 67 71, J Catlin (USA) 72 65 69,
207 T Pulkkanen (Fin) 65 68 74, S Jamieson (Sco) 69 66 72, S Horsfield (Eng) 72 67 68, O Fisher (Eng) 68 69 70, D Burmester (RSA) 73 68 66, G Forrest (Sco) 72 70 65, M Pavon (Fra) 68 71 68, J Guerrier (Fra) 69 69 69, O Wilson (Eng) 72 67 68, D Horsey (Eng) 68 67 72, F Zanotti (Par) 66 71 70, J Luiten (Ned) 69 67 71,
208 N Schietekat (RSA) 69 67 72, W Nienaber (RSA) 75 65 68, W Ormsby (Aus) 71 68 69, D Law (Sco) 68 72 68, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 69 68, R Paratore (Ita) 69 66 73, E Walker (Sco) 68 70 70, J Walters (RSA) 63 71 74, G Coetzee (RSA) 66 72 70, N Elvira (Esp) 70 67 71, R Sterne (RSA) 70 73 65, L Johnston (Sco) 69 69 70, M Schwab (Aut) 70 70 68, R Cabrera Bello (Esp) 69 69 70,
209 S Kim (USA) 74 65 70, M Lee (Aus) 70 68 71, R Wattel (Fra) 70 67 72, M Kaymer (Ger) 69 71 69, R Langasque (Fra) 71 68 70, J Ahlers (RSA) 65 77 67, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 67 74 68, G Fdez-Castaño (Esp) 68 75 66, S Brown (Eng) 69 68 72, B Easton (RSA) 72 66 71, N Colsaerts (Bel) 69 75 65, J Morrison (Eng) 70 71 68, D Lipsky (USA) 73 64 72,
210 A Levy (Fra) 68 70 72, L Westwood (Eng) 69 69 72, R Rock (Eng) 66 71 73, A Johnston (Eng) 70 74 66, K Reitan (Nor) 65 68 77, T Lawrence (RSA) 75 66 69,
211 J Singh Brar (Eng) 68 72 71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 70 66 75, A Haindl (RSA) 68 71 72, K Davidse (RSA) 75 68 68, N Bertasio (Ita) 66 73 72, A Arnaus (Esp) 68 70 73, G Green (Mas) 69 73 69, G Migliozzi (Ita) 69 71 71, L Herbert (Aus) 69 68 74, S Kjeldsen (Den) 74 69 68, B Wiesberger (Aut) 72 71 68, E Els (RSA) 70 72 69,
212 R McEvoy (Eng) 69 74 69, L De Jager (RSA) 70 69 73, E Van Rooyen (RSA) 77 71 64, B Stone (RSA) 69 69 74, G McDowell (Nir) 72 70 70, B Grace (RSA) 72 72 68, H Porteous (RSA) 70 70 72, T Immelman (RSA) 68 71 73, J Suri (USA) 68 74 70, J Rahm (Esp) 71 68 73, G Bhullar (Ind) 69 68 75, M Fraser (Aus) 66 73 73, K Samooja (Fin) 71 72 69,
213 P Larrazábal (Esp) 68 70 75, T Sloman (Eng) 74 69 70, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 71 72, J Donaldson (Wal) 70 70 73, J Dantorp (Swe) 73 67 73, B Wu (USA) 71 66 76, J Roos (RSA) 70 75 68, C Wood (Eng) 73 72 68, C Paisley (Eng) 68 70 75, B Dredge (Wal) 72 71 70, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 72 71, R Fisher (Eng) 72 68 73, P Dunne (Irl) 70 75 68,
214 H Tanihara (Jpn) 69 72 73, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 71 69 74, H Leon (Chi) 72 70 72, A Otaegui (Esp) 64 74 76, T Aiken (RSA) 73 69 72, J Felton (Aus) 71 69 74, D Hillier (Nzl) 71 70 73, J Harding (RSA) 75 68 71, D Drysdale (Sco) 75 69 70, D Papadatos (Aus) 68 68 78, A Romero (Arg) 71 68 75, P Eriksson (Swe) 76 67 71, M Campbell (Nzl) 75 72 67,
215 Y Miyazato (Jpn) 71 70 74, C O'Reilly (Aus) 68 73 74, J Hansen (Den) 70 73 72, T Jaidee (Tha) 73 70 72, B Henson (USA) 68 69 78, N Højgaard (Den) 74 69 72, H Endycott (Aus) 69 74 72,
216 T Bjørn (Den) 73 71 72, E Molinari (Ita) 72 70 74, S Sharma (Ind) 71 67 78, J McLeod (Aus) 74 69 73,
217 S Crocker (USA) 71 71 75, S Hawkes (Aus) 74 69 74, J Kruyswijk (RSA) 72 73 72,
218 D Points (USA) 69 75 74,
219 D Howell (Eng) 71 70 78, D Nisbet (Aus) 71 71 77,
221 A Chesters (Eng) 76 74 71,
222 D Fichardt (RSA) 73 75 74, J Burnage (Eng) 75 70 77, M Palmer (RSA) 75 73 74,
223 J Ritchie (RSA) 75 68 80,
227 M Kawamura (Jpn) 72 78 77,
** A Björk (Swe) 75 RT 0,

Tournament: Alfred Dunhill Links Championship
Race to Dubai: Tournament 39 of 47 events
Venue: St Andrews Old Course, Kingsbarns Golf Links & Carnoustie Golf Links
Prize fund: US$5,000,000
Hashtag: #DunhillLinks