Sergio Garcia back in hunt for BMW Masters after late birdie blitz

Sergio Garcia hauled himself back into contention with a late barrage of birdies on the third day of the BMW Masters as he bounced back from a "stupid" bogey at the 10th.

Garcia led after an opening 64 but followed with an erratic 71 to slip three shots off the pace, and he was five behind when he dropped a stroke at the 10th after birdies at the fifth and ninth.

But the Spaniard reeled off four birdies in five holes from the 13th, and caught a lucky break at 14 when he found a good lie in the thick rough after a wayward tee shot and managed to scramble a par.

After signing for a five-under 67 which left him just a single shot behind Thongchai Jaidee, Garcia said: "My back nine didn't start very well. I made a stupid, really, really soft bogey on 10 and then I guess got a couple good breaks on 13 and 14 and took advantage of it," said Garcia, whose approach to the par-five 13th cleared the water by inches.

"I played the last four holes really well I think, so it was nice to be able to finish like that and give myself a shot tomorrow because I was getting a little bit far behind. I knew that I was falling behind and I was hoping for something good to happen. I was fortunate that it did. So I'm happy with that and we'll see what we can do tomorrow.

"It's always exciting to be up there with a chance on Sunday. Hopefully I will play well tomorrow and keep myself up there and have a chance coming in and we'll see what we can do."

Garcia shares second place with Byeong Hun An, who is 44 under par for the Race to Dubai Final Series so far and is one of the front-runners to be named European Tour Rookie of the Year this season.

The BMW PGA champion faces competition for the award from two-time winner Anirban Lahiri and British Masters champion Matt Fitzpatrick, and he said: "It would be great to have it because it's once in your lifetime. I think it would be a bonus to be honest, and my goal is trying to stay in the top 50 in the world."

The world No 47 fired a flawless six-birdie 66 at Lake Malaren to get to 14 under, and he added: "I made a lot of birdie putts and hit it quite well, and I got off to a good start with a birdie. Overall, it was great.

"I didn't think it was that easy out there with the wind. It kind of died down the last couple holes but still, I had to focus on every shot and I was hitting it where I want to, and it seems like it worked. A win would be nice, but I really don't have any expectations. I'm just going to play like today and if somebody else plays better, it's not my week.

Meanwhile, Henrik Stenson has not given up hope of landing another Race to Dubai crown as he also kept a bogey off his card in a sparking 65 that lifted up to 12 under - three behind Jaidee.

The Swede, who was European No 1 in 2013, trails Rory McIlroy by over two million points, but a win in Shanghai would give him an outside chance heading into next week's grand finale in Dubai.

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"It was nice - no dropped shots and I hit a lot of greens and made a few putts and kept it together nicely," he said. "I'm not super, super far behind going into Sunday but we'll certainly need another good round tomorrow to have any chance.

"To have any chance, given similar conditions, I need to shoot seven or eight under I think again to get it close to 20. Given where I'm at in the Race to Dubai standings, I pretty much need a win to have a chance. We will just have to try and go at it again."