David Lingmerth’s bid to make the perfect start to his 2016 Ryder Cup qualifying campaign suffered a dangerous blow in the third round of the Australian PGA Championship, but the Swede is by no means out of the race to collect his first European Tour title at the RACV Royal Pines Resort on the Gold Coast.

Lingmerth began the third round with a one shot lead over the chasing pack, but a disappointing three over 75 saw him fall back into the chasing pack, three shots behind joint leaders Dylan Frittelli and Zander Lombard of South Africa and American Harold Varner III.

Varner produced a best of the day 66 to surge through the field to the top of the leaderboard, while the South African duo bot posted rounds of one under 71 to move into a share of the lead.

Nathan Holman’s 70 saw the Australian lead the home challenge into the final round, while his compatriot Matt Millar joined Lingmerth on level par with 18 holes to play at the AUS$1.75 million co-sanctioned event between the Australian PGA and The European Tour.

Lingmerth joined The European Tour at the start of this week in a bid to make a first appearance at the 2016 Ryder Cup in America next year, and is still in with a chance of making a victorious start to his bid to join Darren Clarke’s European team next year.