Here in the Surrey stockbroker belt, a place so affluent the money doesn’t just talk but sings, dances and walks, there’s a home counties boy from Buckinghamshire chasing the big bucks in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Danny Willett, the Masters champion, and Lee Westwood, joint second at Augusta in April, may be the ones that England expects in the upper echelons of a leaderboard peppered with the cross of St George but it’s an unexpected name leading that challenge on the West Course. Or perhaps not? Tyrell Hatton’s six-under 66, for an eight-under 208, propelled the 24-year-old to within a shot of Australian frontrunner Scott Hend as he underlined the potential that has made him one to watch over the past couple of seasons. “A lot of senior players have tipped me to be a force on the tour and so far I haven’t managed to fully live up to those expectations,” said Hatton, who has posted three podium placings since joining the main circuit in 2014 and was fifth in last week’s Irish Open. “But I now feel it’s getting close to my time.”

Hatton certainly had a good time on the West Course, charging home in 32 – five-under – to barge up the order. As an agitated, weary Willett slithered off the lead he had shared overnight and into a tie for fifth on six-under with an erratic, wild and wayward 76, Hatton’s route 66 was as smooth as lino.

Things were not running too smoothly for Westwood earlier in the week. Straining ligaments in his left ankle while out jogging on Tuesday – “at 43 I should give up running” – was hardly an ideal start to his 24th bid to win the PGA title for the first time but the former world No 1 put his best foot forward yesterday with a neatly assembled, bogey-free 68 which ended with a brace of birdies at 17 and 18 as he finished two off the lead with a 209.

“The Masters was confirmation that I could still compete,” said Westwood. “Usually at this time of the season, I have played about 15 events. This year, I’ve played only six and I’m feeling very fresh.”

Hend, like his playing partner Willett, had toiled for much of the third round but he galvanised his title tilt on the par-5 18th when his eight-iron approach bounced and rolled into three-feet and he holed the eagle putt in a 73 for a nine-under 207 to seize a slender lead. “It was a bit fortunate,” he admitted. “I was just trying to get it anywhere on the green and two-putt for birdie. Fortunately it got a good bounce and rolled in close.”

On the Scottish front, meanwhile, Aberdeen’s Greig Hutcheon continued to show just what a sturdy competitor he is as the Tartan Tour stalwart finished with a rousing flourish of three birdies at 16, 17 and 18 in a 70 to lead the tartan contingent in a tie for 21st on a two-under 214.

The world’s finest may be groaning and grousing about a hectic schedule this year caused by the addition of golf to the Olympics but Hutcheon’s recent diary has been as jam-packed as the M25. It’s all par for the course at Hutcheon’s level.

A week past Friday, the 43-year-old played in the Largs Pro-Am on the domestic PGA circuit, contested another 18-hole shoot-out at Dalmuir the next day before teeing-up in the P&H Championship on Monday through to Wednesday. After finishing third in that order of merit event, he hopped on the last flight down to Heathrow and began his Wentworth campaign the following afternoon. Three rounds later, this golfing marathon man is still bounding on and making a fine fist of it.

A three-time winner on the European Challenge Tour between 1999 and 2003, Hutcheon never made the breakthrough on the main circuit and a niggling shoulder injury, picked up after an impromptu snow ball fight that ended rather painfully, hindered his progress. The former Scottish PGA champion remains a steely, talented competitor, though, and this week’s effort has illustrated those qualities.

“It’s been a bit of redemption for me,” said Hutcheon who is well on course to claim the biggest cheque of his 25-year professional career. “I felt I was a good player back in my late 20s and early 30s and then I had that stupid injury with the snow ball fight which was a kind of career finishing injury. It’s just nice to get back. I think the last 13 tour events I’ve played in I’ve made nine cuts. It’s self-satisfaction. I might not be a superstar on the PGA Tour living in a gated community in Florida but I’m still competing and having fun.”