Matt Wallace will tee off in the final group at the Barclays Kenya Open tomorrow aiming for the biggest win of his career after moving to the top of the leaderbord.

The Moor Park Golf Club professional fired a four-under-par third round of 67 to move to 12-under at the opening Challenge Tour event of the year, giving him a one-shot advantage over fellow Englishman Aaron Rai and Adrien Saddier at Muthaiga Golf Club in Nairobi.

The star of last year’s Alps Tour had moved into contention with a 66 in the second round and started the day four behind Saddier. But while the Frenchman had to settle for a one-over 72, Wallace took over at the summit as he seeks his first victory on Europe’s second-tier tour.

He told the European Tour website: “I played really nicely today. Not actually as well as the last two days, but I gave myself a lot of chances today and managed to get through a scruffy patch in the middle and finish nicely again.

“I birdied the last two holes and did the same yesterday – I had a really nice yardage into 17 and decided to really attack it and stuffed it in there really close and 18 is always a really good birdie chance.

“I really approached today the same as all week. I was obviously four shots behind Adrien so I was trying to shoot as low as I could and post a good score, but I didn’t think I’d be leading – I’m there though and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

The Pinner-based professional briefly dropped back to seven-under with a bogey on the par three second, but that shot was immediately retrieved with a birdie on the par four third. He then picked up consecutive shots for the second day running on the seventh and eighth – a par five and par four respectively - to move to 10-under for the tournament as he went out in 34.

Wallace made it three birdies in as many rounds at the par five tenth and although he let a shot slip at the par three 16th, he finished the penultimate 18 holes in style with birdies five and six of the day at 17 and 18 – a par four and par five.

Although the Moor Park professional is now in a position to be shot at, he has experience of winning from the front during his historic six triumphs on the European satellite tour last year as he attempts to surpass his best result to date, a tie for fourth at the Terre dei Consoli Open in October on the Challenge Tour.