Sweden's Robert Karlsson will take a commanding six-shot lead into the final round of the Wales Open.

At 6ft 5in Karlsson is used to being head and shoulders above the rest, and that was certainly the case at Celtic Manor after a third round of 65 in glorious conditions.

Karlsson's 18-under-par, 54-hole total of 189 established a new European Tour record, eclipsing the 192 (18-under-par) set by Tiger Woods at the NEC Invitational in 2000.

Paul Broadhurst is Karlsson's nearest challenger on 12-under, but admitted his playing partner was making the Roman Road course look like "a pitch-and-putt".

"Six shots is massive the way he is playing," said Broadhurst, who carded a 67 containing six birdies and four bogeys. "He is playing amazingly so it's going to be tough to catch him.

"I got within three shots after six but then caught a bad lie in the rough on seven and shanked a sand iron. If you hit a shot like that it's going to unsettle you and it was tough to put it out of my mind.

"I'm going to have to try to put him under some sort of pressure tomorrow but he's hitting it so far it's like a pitch-and-putt course to him. I'm hitting it as far as I can and he's still 30 or 40 yards past me."

Graeme McDowell heightened his profile on the leaderboard with a round of 64 to move to eight-under-par.

McDowell's round looked decidedly ordinary until the back nine, the Northern Ireland man having carded a bogey on the fifth and a birdie on the eighth. Another bogey followed on the 11th before a spate of birdies and one eagle on the 16th brightened up his afternoon.

McDowell is now tied for 11th, but still along way off Karlsson's lead.

David Higgins and Peter Lawrie are on two and three-under respectively, while Michael Hoey, Ireland's best placed overnight, picked up just one shot to move to seven-under-par.