A late flourish ensured that David Law will go into the final round of the SSE Scottish Hydro Challenge at Macdonald Spey Valley today with plenty to play for as he seeks a maiden win on the European Challenge Tour.

While his fellow Scot, Duncan Stewart, described some of the pin positions as “shambolic” and grumbled that certain greens made it akin to “putting on Lego”, Law managed to build something sturdy from a round that had began to shoogle like a couple of ill-fitting plastic toy bricks.

A brace of birdies at 17 and 18 in a battling level-par 71 gave overnight frontrunner Law a seven-under aggregate of 206 and left him just a shot behind the leading duo of Stuart Manley and Pedro Figueiredo.

Having slipped to three-over through 12 holes, this was a gritty salvage operation. Instead of slumped, forlorn shoulders, the 27-year-old bounced off the final green with a spring in his step.

“After I three-putted the 12th to go three-over, I thought I’d be down to 15th or whatever,” reflected the former Scottish Amateur champion.

“But I looked up at the leaderboard and saw I was just three or four back so that made me determined to dig in and have a strong finish. I didn’t have my best stuff for most of the day, but managed to churn out a decent number.”

Having birdied the 13th and 15th, Law leaked a shot on the 16th but he responded with purpose and two-putted the long 17th from 20-feet for a birdie before smashing a lob wedge out of the rough on the last to 12-feet and trundling in the putt.

“Somebody needs to go out and shoot a number on Sunday,” he said as he looked forward to a final day shoot-out on a leaderboard that’s as bunched as a shoal of tightly-packed krill. “I’ll be in the second last group and if I can shoot four or five-under, then who knows?”

Figueiredo, who won in Belgium a fortnight ago, and Manley, the winner in France last weekend, both have the title-winning bit between their teeth and a pair of 69s lifted them into a share of the lead on eight-under.

“I’m feeling very comfortable after winning a week ago and I just want to go out and take the course on,” said former Walker Cup player Manley.

You could have done a copy and paste job on those quotes for Figueiredo, who echoed those sentiments of feeding off the feelgood factor that a victory brings.

The aforementioned Stewart, a former winner on the Challenge Tour, slipped into a share of 12th on 210 after a frustrating 73. “I was happy to finish with 14 clubs,” he said with a grimace.

Across at Royal Aberdeen, meanwhile, The highly-talented Jovan Rebula became just the second South African to win the Amateur Championship.

The 21-year-old, who is the nephew of multiple major winner Ernie Els, eased to a 3&2 victory over Ireland’s Robin Dawson. The last man from the Rainbow Nation to win the Amateur crown was Bobby Cole at Carnoustie in 1966.

One-up after the opening 18 holes, Rebula moved five clear at the halfway point of the second round and despite a late wobble he put the tin lid on his triumph with a par on the 34th.

His success will lead to places in next month's Open and the 2019 Masters.