[ Collated scores ]
Gary Murphy, Ireland's leading player in the European Tour Qualifying School Finals, gave himself the perfect opportunity to regain his Tour Card with today's 69 in southern Spain.
The 30-year-old closed with a birdie four at the par five 18th, his third of the day with just one dropped shot, for a 19-under par aggregate.
Murphy's fourth round in the 60's in five days leaves him just eight shots adrift off the lead held by England's Philip Archer who leads on 27-under.
More importantly, the Kilkennyman is in a share of fifth spot with the top 35 players and ties after tomorrow's sixth and final round gaining cards with a Category 11 membership.
Wexford club professional Damien McGrane played his way into one of the automatic places with a fine 67 at Emporda Golf Club this afternoon. McGrane, who up until now has featured strongly on the Irish PGA circuit and the Challenge Tour, shares 25th place on 12-under.
Gaining cards will be a more difficult task for Ireland's two other hopefuls, Stephen Browne and Gary Cullen, in the cut-down field.
Browne failed to sustain the momentum after yesterday's 63, instead he slipped back into a tie for 55th on seven-under after today's 72. Cullen was a shot further back after a 73.
Barring disaster in tomorrow's final round, Murphy has all but played his way back onto the lucrative main tour which boasted over £60million in prize money this season.
As for McGrane, another performance similar to today should be sufficient while Browne and Cullen will almost certainly need to shoot well into the 60's if they are to realise their dreams.