The 20-year-old from Bristol carded a three-under-par 69 for an 11-under total of 347 and heads into the closing day in a share of sixth place, seven shots behind pacesetter Oskar Henningsson of Sweden.

Wood burst onto the scene during July's Open Championship at Royal Birkdale when he finished fifth to win the silver medal as leading amateur.

He quickly turned professional and, having had a taste of the high life on tour,

the 6ft 5in Englishman is determined to win one of the 30 cards on offer for 2009.

"The Open was a great experience and then having the starts on tour made me realise that there is nowhere else I want to play," said Wood, who finished joint 10th in the Portuguese Masters last month.

"I don't want to be playing on the Challenge Tour, I want my main card and I'm getting there. I have tasted the highs in golf this season and I'm determined to have more of them."

Henningsson reclaimed his place at the top on 18 under, two ahead of Spaniard Carlos Del Moral.

English rookie Danny Willett, the overnight leader, slipped back into third after an eventful 74 which included three birdies, an eagle and seven bogeys.

Former Ryder Cup players Joakim Haeggman and Andrew Coltart finished alongside Wood on 11 under.

"Because I've struggled on the tour for the last couple of years my mind has simply not been strong enough to deal with the bad things," admitted Coltart, who slipped off the tour at the end of 2007.

"A bad start today was a real test for me. The battle was to bounce back and try to see the positives in my game and I did."

Fellow Scot Callum Macaulay, the only amateur left in the six-round event, stayed on course for a card after a 71 left him in equal 15th, while Chris Doak followed his fourth-round 62 with a 71 to lie 21st.

ALL THE FIFTH ROUND SCORES
Par 72

340 Oskar Henningsson (Swe) 66 66 65 74 69

342 Carlos Del Moral (Spa) 72 67 66 70 67

344 Danny Willett (Eng) 70 67 63 70 74

345 Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 71 67 66 69 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 66 75 64 71 69

347 Eirik Tage Johansen (Nor) 69 66 67 71 74, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 70 67 70 71 69, Andrew Coltart (Sco) 71 69 67 71 69, Chris Wood (Eng) 72 66 69 71 69, Matthew Millar (Aus) 74 69 69 65 70

348 David Drysdale (Sco) 68 71 67 70 72, Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa) 69 69 68 70 72, Ake Nilsson (Swe) 71 67 68 66 76

349 Anthony Snobeck (Fra) 71 71 66 72 69

350 Gary Clark (Eng) 70 70 70 68 72, Branden Grace (Rsa) 66 69 70 72 73, Michael Hoey (NIrl) 68 69 71 72 70, Dennis Kpper (Ger) 69 68 69 71 73, Jonathan Caldwell (NIrl) 67 70 69 74 70, Callum Macaulay (Sco) 71 67 72 69 71

351 Carl Suneson (Spa) 70 74 71 68 68, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 71 72 68 69 71, Chinnarat Phadungsil (Tha) 78 67 72 67 67, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 73 66 69 70 73, Chris Doak (Sco) 75 72 71 62 71

352 Marc Cayeux (Zim) 68 72 68 74 70, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 68 70 72 71 71, Stuart Manley (Wal) 67 73 67 72 73, Marco Ruis) 67 77 71 69 69, Iain Pyman (Eng) 70 67 71 75 70, Michael Mcgeady (Irl) 69 69 69 72 74, Santiago Luna (Spa) 70 74 73 66 70

354 Rolf Muntz (Ned) 69 76 69 69 71, Richard Mcevoy (Eng) 71 67 75 69 72, Federico Colombo (Ita) 68 67 76 70 73

355 Cesar Monasterio (Arg) 74 71 67 72 71, Tony Carolan (Aus) 67 73 70 74 71, John Mellor (Eng) 68 75 69 72 71, James Kamte (Rsa) 67 70 72 76 70, Ben Mason (Eng) 70 72 65 75 73, Adilson Da Silva (Bra) 72 71 68 72 72

356 Julien Guerrier (Fra) 72 69 72 70 73, Roland Steiner (Aut) 68 73 68 71 76, Johan Wahlqvist (Swe) 69 67 71 71 78, Rory Hie (Ina) 71 72 73 67 73, Nicolas Meitinger (Ger) 69 76 75 65 71, Garry Houston (Wal) 70 73 73 66 74, James Morrison (Eng) 71 71 69 72 73, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 70 73 73 67 73, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 69 74 69 70 74

357 Javier Colomo (Spa) 75 73 70 66 73, Roope Kakko (Fin) 68 73 72 72 72

358 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 79 64 69 73 73, Nathan Smith (USA) 71 70 71 70 76

359 Dominique Nouailhac (Fra) 69 70 70 72 78, Simon Thornton (Irl) 69 72 72 72 74, Robert Coles (Eng) 69 75 71 69 75, Jesus Maria Arruti (Spa) 70 68 73 73 75

360 Anthony Grenier (Fra) 73 70 71 70 76, Julien Grillon (Fra) 69 72 70 74 75, Chris Gane (Eng) 69 68 72 72 79, Adrien Bernadet (Fra) 69 75 74 65 77, Andrew Butterfield (Eng) 73 70 68 74 75, Carlos Rodiles (Spa) 71 74 71 69 75

361 Jamie Moul (Eng) 75 71 67 72 76, Ben Evans (Eng) 70 67 73 75 76, Clodomiro Carranza (Arg) 67 75 75 68 76, Antti Ahokas (Fin) 69 75 70 71 76

363 Andreas Hogberg (Swe) 74 63 72 75 79, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 73 73 70 66 81