Graeme McDowell and Henrik Stenson are five strokes off the pace heading into the final round foursomes at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana.

Tied for seventh at halfway, three shots behind Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer, who shot a blistering 65 in the foursomes, the European duo carded a six-under 66 in Saturday's fourballs and share 12th place on 18-under par.

Scores

Scott Stallings and Trey Mullinax fired a 10-under par 62 to lead by a shot on 23-under par from South Africans Branden Grace and Justin Harding, who shot a 61.

But Palmer and Rahm recovered from a brace of bogeys a the 17th with the Spaniard closing with a birdie four to give his team a share of the lead with a 64.

Bracing himself for a tough Sunday, Rahm said: “That foursomes round we played we barely missed a shot…. if we can keep putting ourselves in position tomorrow, hopefully we can roll a few in.”

West Waterford's Seamus Power and Canadian David Hearn, who made the cut on the mark at eight-under, carded an eight-under 64 to move up to 21st on 16-under and into position to claim some valuable FedExCup points.

The top 11 teams are covered by just four strokes with European Ryder Cup duo Sergio Garcia and Tommy Fleetwood tied for sixth on 19-under after a 64, just four behind heading into the foursomes.

Targeting a 67 on Sunday, Garcia said: ”I think it would be a great number. If somebody plays better obviously you just shake their hand and tell them congrats. But yeah, the course is getting firmer.

“It's not going to be easy, so if we can play kind of like we did this morning in foursomes, it's a tough format, so just got to, like Tommy said, just stay patient.

“It's going to be tough for everyone, and even if something doesn't go right right away, just wait for it. So I think we've been very good with that throughout the whole week.”