Graeme McDowell and Paul Dunne fin themselves seven strokes behind leader Thorbjorn Olesen heading into the final round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship at St Andrews.

McDowell birdied the 17th and 18th on the Old Course, carding a three udner 69 to get to 10 under par as Dunne had an up and down day, evenually posted a level par 72 at Carnoustie to join the Ulsterman in a tie for 13th place.

Olesen might have made just five cuts this year, but the two-time tour winner — signed by Nike the same year as Rory McIlroy — had a hot day on the greens and posted a 65 to take a three-stroke lead over Germany’s Florian Fritsch, who shot an impressive 64 at Kingsbarns, with France’s Benjamin Hebert, another shot behind after a 67 at Carnoustie.

Shane Lowry was the only other Irish player to make the cut, the world No 21 firing seven birdies in a classy 66 on the Old Course to get to seven under.

Fritsch and German footballer Michael Ballack lead the Pro-Am on 30-under-par with Gary Hurley, who missed the six under par cut by four despite a 69 at Kingsbarns, taking the last of the 20 amateur team spots alongside parter Brian O’Driscoll on 24 under.

McDowell had another up and down day with the putter on the always tough to putt double greens at St Andrews, where he had five birdies to go with his two bogeys.

However, after breaking par in four consecutive rounds in a tournament for the first time in nearly two years, the Portrush man's sub-par streak is now up to seven with a further three this week.

But it was always going to be a hard day for Dunne, whp started with a bogey at Carnoustie, birdied the third but then bogeyed the eighth and ninth to fall back to eight under.

He hit back with four birdies on the spin from the 11th to the 14th but bogeyed the tricky 15th and the long, par three 16th and had to settle for pars at Carnoustie's tough finish holes.

While Lowry was impressive in most departments, it was a bad day for the rest of the Irish.

Darren Clarke bogeyed the last two boles at St Andrews to miss the cut by one after a 72 with Michael Hoey a shot furhter back after despite a 68 there.

As for Peter Lawrie and Damien McGrane, both now have real problems when it comes to having cards for next season.

Lawrie missed the cut by two shots after a 72 at Carnoustie with McGrane, who also shot 72 there, another shot back.

Padraig Harrington’s 71 at St Andrews left him on one under alongside Kevin Phelan, who also shot a 72 at Carnoustie.

Phelan and Lawrie are in Challenge Tour action next week with McGrane, Harrington, Clarke, Hoey, Lowry and McDowell joining Dunne and Niall Kearney in the British Masters at Woburn.

There are just two more regular season events after that for the likes of McGrane, Phelan and Lawrie to win cards — the Portugal Masters and the Hong Kong Open.

Round Three Scores:

199 T Olesen (Den) 68 66 65,

202 F Fritsch  (Ger) 68 70 64,

203 B Hebert  (Fra) 69 67 67,

204 J Lagergren (Swe) 71 71 62, B Dredge (Wal) 73 63 68, C Stroud (USA) 68 66 70, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 75 63 66,

205 E Els (RSA) 72 67 66, J Donaldson (Wal) 69 65 71, G Storm  (Eng) 69 68 68, B Koepka  (USA) 72 69 64, B Grace  (RSA) 73 64 68,

206 G McDowell  (Nir) 68 69 69, D Horsey (Eng) 72 70 64, S Kjeldsen (Den) 65 72 69, P Dunne (Irl) 64 70 72, A Cañizares  (Esp) 69 67 70, A Wall (Eng) 65 68 73, S Piercy (USA) 69 69 68, D Drysdale (Sco) 68 72 66,

207 M Nixon (Eng) 72 72 63, F Aguilar (Chi) 67 73 67, J Mullen  (Eng) 64 69 74, S Gallacher (Sco) 67 72 68, B Wiesberger  (Aut) 70 68 69, B Evans  (Eng) 70 72 65, M Ilonen  (Fin) 71 67 69, S Cink (USA) 73 65 69, J Morrison  (Eng) 67 70 70,

208 F Zanotti (Par) 67 75 66, A Otaegui  (Esp) 68 70 70, P Hanson (Swe) 70 72 66, R Dinwiddie  (Eng) 71 69 68, O Fisher  (Eng) 70 72 66, K Broberg (Swe) 64 74 70, C Bezuidenhout (RSA) 72 65 71, M Warren (Sco) 68 69 71, N Holman  (Aus) 68 68 72, C Wood  (Eng) 71 72 65, T Fleetwood  (Eng) 70 71 67,

209 N Dougherty  (Eng) 72 67 70, J Walters (RSA) 72 69 68, R Wattel  (Fra) 70 70 69, M Carlsson  (Swe) 70 72 67, R Finch  (Eng) 69 73 67, E Espana (Fra) 73 68 68, S Lowry  (Irl) 74 69 66, S Jamieson  (Sco) 72 68 69, V Dubuisson  (Fra) 74 68 67,

210 D Lingmerth (Swe) 71 66 73, D Van Tonder  (RSA) 69 70 71, J Randhawa (Ind) 70 69 71, G Stal  (Fra) 69 73 68, N Cullen (Aus) 70 73 67, G Bourdy (Fra) 71 70 69, J Kruger (RSA) 73 68 69, D Willett  (Eng) 74 68 68, N Colsaerts  (Bel) 73 70 67, M Kaymer (Ger) 68 68 74, S Hansen (Den) 71 69 70, Y Yang (Kor) 72 68 70.

CUT

211 D Clarke (Nir) 71 68 72, R Green (Aus) 69 73 69, T Van Der Walt (RSA) 75 66 70, O Wilson (Eng) 74 74 63, M Foster (Eng) 68 72 71, A Levy (Fra) 67 71 73, R Bland (Eng) 65 73 73, M Lampert (Ger) 67 71 73, M Bremner (RSA) 70 71 70, W Ormsby (Aus) 73 72 66,
212 M Hoey  (Nir) 71 73 68, N Fasth (Swe) 74 69 69, R Jacquelin (Fra) 68 72 72, P Lawrie (Irl) 67 73 72, D Lipsky (USA) 72 75 65, M Madsen  (Den) 70 67 75, T Bjørn (Den) 71 72 69, O Farr (Wal) 71 71 70, M Lundberg (Swe) 71 72 69, L Westwood (Eng) 71 72 69, L Donald  (Eng) 71 70 71, R Kakko  (Fin) 73 71 68, R Fisher (Eng) 68 78 66,

213 M Kieffer (Ger) 71 71 71, P Martin Benavides (Esp) 71 75 67, B An (Kor) 73 71 69, S Jeffress (Aus) 73 70 70, P Lawrie (Sco) 70 75 68, S Benson (Eng) 70 73 70, J Roos (RSA) 72 74 67, M Fraser (Aus) 66 74 73, H Otto (RSA) 70 71 72, E Compton (USA) 74 68 71, T Pieters  (Bel) 72 71 70, J Parry (Eng) 70 70 73, N Elvira  (Esp) 70 75 68, S Hutsby  (Eng) 68 75 70, D McGrane (Irl) 70 71 72, M Manassero (Ita) 70 75 68, S Lewton (Eng) 70 74 69,

214 J Barnes (Eng) 71 73 70, R Lee (Can) 76 68 70, J Luiten (Ned) 70 72 72, P Uihlein  (USA) 69 72 73, G Hurley (Irl) 73 72 69, C Schwartzel  (RSA) 72 70 72, J Campillo (Esp) 77 67 70, J Ahlers (RSA) 71 73 70, G Havret  (Fra) 71 75 68,

215 K Phelan (Irl) 71 72 72, P Larrazábal (Esp) 72 70 73, J Blaauw  (RSA) 76 66 73, A Quiros  (Esp) 70 72 73, M Tullo (Chi) 69 74 72, A Sullivan (Eng) 74 71 70, D Brooks (Eng) 75 72 68, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 74 68 73, P Harrington (Irl) 75 69 71, M Brown (Nzl) 75 69 71, O Schniederjans  (USA) 75 71 69, G Mulroy (RSA) 67 68 80, S Kapur (Ind) 75 70 70,

216 D Howell (Eng) 75 72 69, P Edberg (Swe) 71 73 72, M Fitzpatrick  (Eng) 69 75 72, J Harvey (RSA) 72 73 71, R Karlberg  (Swe) 73 71 72, A Dodt (Aus) 72 70 74, D Fichardt (RSA) 69 71 76,

217 T Hatton (Eng) 69 75 73, A Johnston (Eng) 74 76 67, J Lando Casanova  (Fra) 74 74 69, D Papadatos (Aus) 74 76 67, J Harding  (RSA) 76 72 69, J Higginbottom (Aus) 75 70 72, J Quesne  (Fra) 71 70 76, T Lewis (Eng) 75 66 76,

218 L Bjerregaard  (Den) 76 75 67, S Hend (Aus) 77 75 66, P Perez (USA) 78 69 71, R Fox (Nzl) 75 77 66,

219 K Horne (RSA) 73 75 71, A Chesters  (Eng) 73 71 75, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 74 76 69, M Ford (Eng) 75 75 69,

220 L Slattery (Eng) 71 77 72, R Rock (Eng) 72 75 73, J Carlsson (Swe) 70 75 75,

221 R Karlsson (Swe) 77 77 67, P McGinley (Irl) 75 73 73, E Pepperell (Eng) 74 81 66, J Younger (Aus) 73 71 77,

222 M Lorenzo-Vera  (Fra) 75 76 71, P Peterson (USA) 68 79 75,

223 B Neil (Sco) 75 72 76,

224 M Crespi  (Ita) 78 75 71, S O'Hair (USA) 76 73 75, R Pugh  (Wal) 73 77 74,

225 C Lee (Sco) 79 75 71, R Paratore (Ita) 74 76 75, S Dartnall (Aus) 71 77 77,

226 J Singh (Ind) 77 76 73, J Daly (USA) 74 81 71,

227 S Chawrasia (Ind) 77 75 75,

229 J Garcia Pinto (Esp) 81 71 77,

234 T Levet (Fra) 75 78 81,

 ** C Doak (Sco) 73 RT