The Englishman, co-leader with Australian Marcus Fraser at the start of the day, began his round with a birdie at the long first and tapped in for another at the fifth before missing a par at the short seventh.
He holed an eight-foot birdie putt at the ninth, then a huge one at the 13th from about 40 feet before another birdie at the 14th. He finished by producing an impressive recovery for par at the 18th after sending his tee shot straight into the trees.
Holder Francesco Molinari of Italy and Englishman Tyrrell Hatton were two shots back in a tie for second while Tommy Fleetwood posted an eight-under-par 63 to get to 13 under in a tie for sixth place.
Fraser dropped to joint ninth after a one-over-par 72.
(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Ken Ferris)
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