General / Editor / 24 June 2007 /

Niclas Fasth struggled to a 73 in his third round to slip back to the pack at the BMW International Open in Munich.

The Swede had extended his lead to three shots after opening with a birdie but then carded four bogeys in his next eight holes to lose his advantage.

Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima briefly hit the front with a birdie at the 15th and a third round of 70, but Fasth, 2.78 to win the title, birdied his final hole to join Lima (5.9) in the clubhouse at 11-under.

The pair hold a two-shot lead over Nick Dougherty (7.8), Thomas Levet (11.5) and David Frost (17.5), who are tied for third at -9.

France's Levet was furious with himself after carding two bogeys in the last two holes to lose the share of the lead he had attained after a run of five birdies in eight holes.

"I was stupid at the last hole and so was my caddie," he said. "No way should you hit a driver.

"It's such a pity. I made a super comeback and it was all going my way, but then I let it go."

Dougherty, who kept himself in contention with an eagle at the last, admitted he needed to up his game to stand any chance of winning.

"I need to get some work done - I didn't play anywhere near as well as I hoped I would," the 25-year-old said.

"Hopefully I can fix it before the final round."

Scotland's Alastair Forsyth (30) fired the best round of the day, 67, to move up to joint sixth at -8, alongside Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez (29) and Sweden's Peter Hanson (28).

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