Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell carded a five under par 66 to move into a share of the lead after the third round of the Barclays Scottish Open at Loch Lomond.

The winner of the 2008 Ballantine's Championship in South Korea goes in to the final round on ten under par 203 and tied with the unheralded Englishman Simon Khan who started the day in a share of third place but who moved up to the top of a leaderboard with a 68 that included five birdies and just two dropped shots.

However the man they might all have to beat is England's Ross Fisher who won last week's European Open at the London Club and who climbed into a share of third place alongside Australia's Richard Green, India's Jeev Milkha Singh and 2008 BMW PGA champion Miguel Angel Jiménez with his second 68 of the week.

A little bit further down the leaderboard it also turned out to be a fine day for Adam Scott and Ian Poulter who both carded three under par rounds of 68 to go into the last round tied with Fredrik Andersson Hed, David Lynn, Lee Westwood and first round leader Thongchai Jaidee on seven under par 206.

Ireland's Rory McIlroy also moved into contention with a 68 to share 13th place with Christian Cevaer, Robert Dinwiddie, Oliver Fisher, James Kingston and home favourite Paul Lawrie on six under par 207 while Ernie Els' chances cannot be discounted either after posting a one under par 70 that left him five shots behind the leaders in a group that also included Jean-Francois Lucquin, Alexander Noren, Henrik Stenson and Oliver Wilson.

However it proved to be a disastrous day for second round leader Angel Cabrera who started strongly enough with an outward nine of level par 36 but who came home in a ruinous 42 for a 78 that saw him slip all the way down to a tie for 37^th place.  

Phil Mickelson might also have lost his last chance of winning his first Barclays Scottish Open title when he failed to get up and down from just of the front of the final green. That uncharacteristic slip left him stranded on four under par 209 and with an awful lot to do if he is to catch McDowell and Khan over the closing 18 holes.

Meanwhile hopes of a home victory rest totally in Lawrie's hands after all four of the other Scottish players failed to break par on a day in which the breeze was more troublesome than it had been all week.

Alastair Forsyth, Stephen Gallacher and Andrew Oldcorn all returned one over par scores of 72 to go into the last day in a share of 45^th place on one under par 212 while David Drysdale was stranded on level par 213 after a lacklustre 75.

It was also a bad day for 2006 champion Johan Edfors who was well placed after an opening 67 but who dropped down to a tie for 58^th place after subsequent rounds of 71 and 76.

Also on that mark was Argentina's Andres Romero who was one behind the Swede after an opening 68 but could do no better than 71 and 75 over the subsequent two days.