Michael Hoey and Shane Lowry are two of the 29 players within six shots of leader Pablo Larrazábal entering the final round of the BMW International Open in Cologne.

Hoey birdied three of his last six holes in a second successive 69 to share 19th place on 12 under, five behind the Barcelona man who will take a three-stroke lead into the final round after 67 at Gut Lärchenhof moved him to 17 under par.

The chasing pack includes world No 2 Henrik Stenson, Race to Dubai leader Thomas Björn, the resurgent Paul Casey, Swede Robert Karlsson and Italy's Francesco Molinari.

And Larrazábal will know that anyone within six of the lead can still win after Casey shot 63 to get to 13 under with Richard Green's 62 leaving him tied for second on 14 under with Stenson (66), Björn (66), Karlsson (68), Molinari (65), Emiliano Grillo (70), Rafa Cabrera Bello (70) and Carlos Del Moral (66).

With more inclement weather forecast for Sunday, tournament organisers have been forced to schedule the final round as a two-tee start at 07:00 in an effort to finish before forecasted storms hit Gut Lärchenhof.

Lowry is tied for 25th on 11 under after a 70 that was a true rollercoaster featuring an eagle three, five birdies in a none-hole stretch in the middle of the round, and five bogeys.

The bogeys came in waves at the start and the finish, prompting the Offaly man to tweet: That was a weird day. Was like Ben Hogan at times and Hulk Hogan the rest of the time."

Yet to make a bogey in Germany this week, Larrazábal said: "I'm going shot by shot, you know, hole-by-hole and trying to make as many birdies as I can, and as little mistakes as I can. 

"Today, you know, I hit a couple weird drives but they happened at the right times so I could keep my momentum going. There's many, many hours to spend before teeing off tomorrow and a lot can happen but I feel good and we will see what happens tomorrow."

Stenson remarked on the packed nature of the leaderboard with the top 30 covered by six shots and the top 18 by just four.

"This is as close a leaderboard as I've ever seen," Stenson said. "There are so many guys shooting low numbers.  Obviously the course is set up for a lot of birdies, but it's going to be a day tomorrow where the lead can change hands more than once. So it's good to move into contention a bit more.

"You've got to shoot low if you want to have anything to do with the trophy I think.  We'll just try and make a few good putts tomorrow and try to keep playing reasonably well."

Kells' Damien McGrane slipped 10 spots to tied 63rd on five under after a 71.

Third Round Scores

199 P Larrazábal (Esp) 69 63 67;

202 R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 64 68 70; T Björn (Den) 70 66 66; H Stenson (Swe) 68 68 66; R Karlsson (Swe) 68 66 68; R Green (Aus) 72 68 62; C Del Moral (Esp) 68 68 66; E Grillo (Arg) 66 66 70; F Molinari (Ita) 71 66 65;

203 C Lee (Sco) 69 65 69; J Dantorp (Swe) 68 68 67; A Levy (Fra) 70 67 66; D Willett  (Eng) 64 68 71; J Donaldson (Wal) 71 67 65; P Casey  (Eng) 73 67 63; G Havret  (Fra) 71 65 67; A Cejka (Ger) 68 66 69; O Fisher  (Eng) 72 66 65;

204 M Foster (Eng) 70 69 65; M Hoey  (Nir) 66 69 69; P Waring  (Eng) 72 63 69; S Dyson  (Eng) 69 66 69; R Wattel  (Fra) 67 68 69; F Zanotti (Par) 72 67 65;

205 G Stal  (Fra) 66 69 70; T Jaidee (Tha) 71 66 68; A Hansen (Den) 66 72 67; M Nixon (Eng) 69 67 69; S Lowry  (Irl) 67 68 70; E Goya (Arg) 72 67 66;

206 C Wood  (Eng) 70 70 66; J Kruger (RSA) 72 65 69; G Bhullar (Ind) 67 70 69; J Walters (RSA) 71 69 66; T Hatton (Eng) 69 67 70; A Wall (Eng) 69 69 68;

207 N Elvira  (Esp) 67 68 72; W Ormsby (Aus) 71 67 69; M Jiménez (Esp) 67 67 73; S Garcia  (Esp) 71 66 70; M Kieffer (Ger) 69 71 67; A Cañizares  (Esp) 70 67 70; J Carlsson (Swe) 68 72 67; J Heath  (Eng) 75 65 67; M Madsen  (Den) 70 68 69;

208 J Quesne  (Fra) 71 68 69; E Pepperell (Eng) 72 64 72; G Storm  (Eng) 66 73 69; S Walker (Eng) 67 69 72; D Drysdale (Sco) 72 68 68; T Fleetwood  (Eng) 70 69 69; J Campillo (Esp) 67 71 70; B Grace  (RSA) 67 67 74; J Hansen  (Den) 70 70 68;

209 A Gee  (Eng) 71 69 69; M Siem  (Ger) 70 66 73; M Korhonen (Fin) 69 71 69; V Dubuisson  (Fra) 71 69 69; A Saddier (Fra) 70 70 69;

210 J Knutzon (USA) 70 69 71; A Sullivan (Eng) 66 69 75; D Im (USA) 68 70 72;

211 T Lewis (Eng) 67 72 72; A Hartø  (Den) 68 66 77; R Fisher (Eng) 70 70 71; M Ilonen  (Fin) 68 72 71; D McGrane (Irl) 69 71 71; M Röhrig (am) (Ger) 73 67 71;

213 J Daly (USA) 70 67 76.