Chris Selfridge is just one stroke behind leader Pep Angles entering the final round of the Challenge de Madrid.

The 24-year old from Moyola Park is seeking his maiden win in just his 15th start as a professional at Real Club de Golf La Herrera in the Spanish capital

A level par 70 leaves the former East of Ireland, North of Ireland and Irish Amateur Close champion in a five-way tie for second with England’s Chris Hanson (69), Swiss Benjamin Rusch (70), Italy’s Lorenzo Gagli (71) and Scotland’s Duncan Stewart (71) on four under par.

A graduate of the University of Toledo, Selfridge began the day tied for eighth but birdied the second and third and came back from a double at the seventh and a bogey at the ninth to steal a share of the lead by following a great par save at the 10th with birdies at the 13th and 14th.

A bogey at the 15th relegated him to joint second but he will be keen to show off his winning instincts in the final round.

Barcelona native Angles will be hoping to strike a blow in Madrid after a  three under par 67 in difficult conditions gave him the chance to build on last week’s 19th place finish in the Real Club Valderrama Open de España.

The 23-year old birdied two of his last three holes to reach five under par and put himself in pole position for a maiden Challenge Tour victory on his first appearance on the 2016 Road to Oman.

“I worked really hard for my score today and I am very happy with it,” Angles said. “It was really tricky because of the wind.”

He added: “it has been crazy. It kept changing and over four holes the wind changed from around 15 miles per hour to just four. But it was a good grind out there and I worked for my score.

“I didn’t really do anything differently from the first two days. It was like a different course with the changing wind – before on number ten I was hitting seven irons but today I used a four iron. But I stuck with the same game plan and the same mentality.

“Everything worked well today. I was hitting my long irons well and my putting was terrific too – I stroked the ball perfectly in the wind.

“Tomorrow I will keep on going as I am in really good form at the moment. Hopefully that will put me in a position where I have a great chance of winning. After Valderrama I am relaxed and confident so we will see what happens.”

Rosapenna’s Ruaidhri McGee is very much in contention, just four shots off the pace on one-under par after a 73.

The Derry man was four under with five holes to play but bogeyed the 14th, 15th and 16th to end the day tied for 12th.

Headfort’s Brian Casey made just two birdies against seven bogeys and a double bogey in a seven over 77, falling 17 places to tied 56th on seven over.

Gary Hurley (73-69) missed the one over par cut by one with Kevin Phelan (71-73) three outside the mark.

Scores after round  3

205 P Angles  (Esp) 66 72 67, 

206 L Gagli  (Ita) 69 66 71, Chris Selfridge  (Nir) 66 70 70, B Rusch (Sui) 71 65 70, D Stewart (Sco) 69 66 71, C Hanson (Eng) 71 66 69, 

207 D Law (Sco) 68 66 73, B Stow (Eng) 70 68 69, 

208 A Pavan (Ita) 71 69 68, E Dubois (Fra) 71 65 72, M Pavon (Fra) 68 68 72, 

209 Ruaidhri McGee (Irl) 67 69 73, C Balmaseda  (Esp) 70 71 68, D Gaunt (Aus) 69 69 71, J Guerrier  (Fra) 69 69 71, 

210 J Dantorp (Swe) 68 73 69, G King (Eng) 69 67 74, R Saxton (Ned) 66 73 71, P Whiteford (Sco) 70 67 73, R Langasque  (Fra) 69 66 75, J Lima  (Por) 73 68 69, W Besseling  (Ned) 71 65 74, F Laporta (Ita) 64 69 77, S Soderberg (Swe) 68 66 76, 

211 A Garcia-Heredia (Esp) 68 70 73, J Colomo  (Esp) 65 72 74, P Oriol (Esp) 69 67 75, J Sjöholm (Swe) 68 72 71, M Lampert (Ger) 72 68 71, J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 67 73 71, R Evans  (Eng) 68 73 70, 

212 O Farr (Wal) 70 67 75, S Arnold  (Aus) 73 67 72, 

213 D Bransdon (Aus) 68 71 74, P Maddy (Eng) 69 70 74, J Smith (Eng) 70 68 75, R Enoch  (Wal) 67 67 79, H Joannes  (Bel) 69 71 73, J Stalter (Fra) 70 69 74, M Lafeber (Ned) 71 68 74, M Søgaard  (Den) 69 68 76, 

214 S Hodgson (Eng) 73 67 74, N Quintarelli (Ita) 68 71 75, T Ferrer  (Esp) 69 71 74, E Kofstad (Nor) 69 67 78, R Santos  (Por) 68 71 75, 

215 E Goya (Arg) 69 72 74, J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 69 70 76, F Fritsch  (Ger) 70 68 77, M Tullo (Chi) 73 66 76, A Karlsson  (Swe) 72 69 74, J Loughrey (Eng) 69 72 74, 

216 J Van Der Vaart (Ned) 71 69 76, D Foos (Ger) 69 72 75, C Bouniol (Fra) 69 70 77, 

217 C Mivis  (Bel) 68 73 76, C Koerbler  (Aut) 71 70 76, N Geyger (Chi) 70 70 77, E Larrañaga (Esp) 71 70 76, Brian Casey  (Irl) 70 70 77, 

218 J Barnes (Eng) 73 68 77, 

219 J White (Eng) 73 67 79, J Garcia Del Moral (Esp) 70 70 79, 

221 C Costilla (Arg) 70 71 80, 

222 M Palmer (RSA) 73 68 81.