A second consecutive round of 65 has seen Sweden’s Alex Noren take a firm grip on the British Masters going into tomorrow’s final round at The Grove.

The 34-year-old once again produced a superbly controlled round for the most part to finish on 16-under-par, but his advantage looked at risk of being cut to one shot on the 18th when he drove into a bunker and it looked as if he might struggle to get up and down in two when he left his third shot some 50 foot short of the pin.

Overnight leader Richard Bland took his chance to cut the gap to two with a birdie, but Noren only needed one putt to end his round, reading the pace to perfection to re-establish his three-shot cushion.

The Swede will go into tomorrow seeking his third European Tour victory of the season, and seventh in total, and on the evidence of his golf this week, it will take something very special to stop him if those standards are maintained.

Bland followed up his 64 yesterday with a 69 today to sit alone in second place tonight, one shot clear of the quartet of Tommy Fleetwood, Richard Sterne, Bernd Wiesberger and Peter Hanson.

A shot further back, but five off the lead, are Lee Westwood and Marcel Siem, who produced a blistering finish of five birdies in six holes to shoot up the leaderboard with a six-under-par round that only Noren was able to equal.

The likes of Graeme McDowell, Tyrrell Hatton, Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston and Shane Lowry are still in with a chance of a high finish, but with at least six shots to make up on Noren the title is surely beyond them.

Bushey’s Callum Shinkwin will start the day in a share of 56th place after shooting a two-under-par third round of 69.

The Moor Park professional was backed by a significant number of followers and his final round will get under way at 8.45am tomorrow when he tees off alongside Paul Waring and Gregory Bourdy.

To read how day three unfolded, visit our blog here.