A third round 63 at the Italian Open in Milan brought the 31-year-old, who once snapped his clubs in half and threw them into a river after scoring 80, from two behind to four ahead.

Otto, not even a full member of the Tour at the moment, is on the 22 under par total of 194. In relation to par that score has only been bettered by one shot - by Ernie Els and David Howell - in the history of the circuit.

Ryder Cup Swede Robert Karlsson was the man who had led at halfway

following a course record 61, but he managed "only" a 69 on the low-scoring Castello di Tolcinasco lay-out.

And that dropped the tournament's highest-ranked player - he stands 48th in the world to Otto's 154th - into a tie for second on 18 under with compatriot Christian Nilsson and Spain's Alvaro Velasco. They are ranked 651st and 388th respectively.

Otto even fell further behind when Karlsson set off again with an eagle. But bogeys on the next two holes for the seven-time Tour winner were a sign that he was not firing on all cylinders like the day before.

After four birdies and a bogey in his first five holes, Otto then had four more around the turn before finishing with three more - the last of them from 25 feet - for an inward 30.

Otto, who did not know until a week ago whether he would have a place in the event, said: "This course gives you birdies and the less mistakes you make, you will be up there.

"I just didn't make any putts in Madeira, but I hit it closer today and made a few. I was going home after this week, but a top-10 here will get me into the Irish Open."

A win, of course, would make him exempt for the next two years, and he added: "My biggest goal is to get my card back."

England's Ross McGowan and Phillip Archer are tied for fifth, while fellow countryman Oliver Wilson, who played nine holes of his second round using a wedge on the greens after damaging his putter, is joint seventh with Frenchman Gregory Havret.

Paul Broadhurst, playing his 500th European Tour event, is in joint 13th after a 67, but the former Ryder Cup star, who made his debut as an amateur 20 years ago, was left to rue a closing bogey.

"My neighbour out in the States is always talking about my stats and any time I'm heading towards a bogey-free round I start thinking about it," he said.

"I just wish I could play the last few holes better because I'm playing the hard ones really well."

Nick Dougherty, who flew to the event after attending his mother's funeral on Tuesday, had a 67 for 12 under and, having played with Karlsson when he shot 61, was not giving up the title chase.

"Robert played awesome, but showed it was feasible," said the 25-year-old from Liverpool, who had no fewer than nine birdies, but also a double bogey on the seventh and two bogeys.

"All things considered this week I think I'm doing well. It's been a week of mistakes, but that's acceptable in the circumstances."

American John Daly returned a 68, but that was after making the halfway cut with nothing to spare and at eight under he was down in 46th spot.

(All the third round scores

Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

194 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 65 66 63

198 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 68 61 69, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 70 64 64, Christian Nilsson (Swe) 67 67 64

199 Phillip Archer 70 64 65, Ross McGowan 64 71 64

200 Oliver Wilson 66 69 65, Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 67 63

201 Anders Hansen (Den) 68 65 68, Estanislao Goya (Arg) 66 67 68, Marcel Siem (Ger) 70 66 65, Marco Soffietti (Ita) 72 66 63

203 Alexandre Rocha (Bra) 69 68 66, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 68 66 69, Mark Foster 65 66 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 67 67 69, Paul Broadhurst 69 67 67

204 Marco Ruiz (Par) 64 70 70, Scott Barr (Aus) 70 69 65, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 71 66 67, Paul Waring 70 67 67, Nick Dougherty 71 66 67, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 66 72 66, David Frost (Rsa) 71 68 65, Bradley Dredge 69 65 70

205 Lee Slattery 71 68 66, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 70 65 70, Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) 66 73 66, Ben Mason 68 68 69, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 70 67, Miles Tunnicliff 69 68 68, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 67 69 69

206 Steve Webster 66 69 71, Federico Colombo (Ita) 69 70 67, Doug McGuigan 68 68 70, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 68 70 68, Thomas Levet (Fra) 69 70 67

207 Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 68 70 69, Matthew Millar (Aus) 68 70 69, David Park 70 70 67, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 67 70 70, Alexander Noren (Swe) 66 71 70, Marc Warren 65 70 72, Santiago Luna (Spa) 71 68 68, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 67 71 69

208 John Daly (USA) 67 73 68, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 66 71 71, Peter Baker 69 71 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 66 73 69, David Lynn 68 67 73

209 Mark Pilkington 74 64 71, Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 70 68 71, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 71 67 71, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 67 72 70, Sam Little 69 66 74, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 69 70 70

210 Christian Cevaer (Fra) 71 69 70, Lorenzo null Gagli (Ita) 71 66 73, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 67 71 72

211 Richard Bland 68 71 72, Gary Clark 71 69 71, Gary Orr 69 69 73, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 70 70 71, Stephen Dodd 72 68 71, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 69 70 72, James Kamte (Rsa) 69 70 72

212 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 71 69 72, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 67 73 72, Alastair Forsyth 74 66 72

213 Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 67 72 74, Ian Garbutt 73 67 73

214 Robert Rock 71 69 74, Renaud Guillard (Fra) 72 67 75

215 Nunzio Lombardi (Ita) 68 71 76

218 Claudio Vigano (Ita) 75 65 78

221 Jan Are Larsen (Nor) 69 70 82