There was a Fox on the run during the third round of the Gleneagles Scottish PGA Championship yesterday.

Graham Fox, who was sharing the lead at the halfway stage, took charge of the Tartan Tour's showpiece as he bounded away from the pack with a sparkling six-under 65 over the King's course for a 13-under aggregate of 200 and a three-stroke advantage heading into today's closing 18 holes.

With Scott Henderson hovering in second place on 203 and Greig Hutcheon and Kenny Hutton a stroke further back, the final day will be something of a Fox hunt. While more than content with his position of power at the head of the leaderboard, the Fox in question believed he could have had an even bigger advantage over the menace that lurks behind.

Despite a profitable haul of six birdies, a plunder which began with a tap-in for a three on the first, the Ayrshireman missed birdie chances of five-feet at both the 14th and 17th and then three-putted the 18th for a par-five on a glorious day when summer made a guest appearance.

"You're always happy when you shoot a 65 but there's a disappointment at the same time," admitted Fox, who is on course for the biggest win of his 11-year professional career. "It could've been a 62."

Although he spurned a handful of opportunities, Fox still maintained that his putting has been key to his success so far this week. A rummage through the car boot in search of a change in fortunes on the greens seems to have paid off. "I have a few old putters in the back of the car and I fished one out before a Pro-Am at Bothwell Castle at the weekend," he added. "I'd not used it since the European Tour's qualifying school last December but it's doing the job. Once a few putts go in, it makes all the difference."

Henderson manoeuvred himself into a position to pounce with a purposeful 66, which started slowly with a bogey on the second but gathered pace with a burst of four birdies in seven holes from the sixth. The fact that the handle on his electric trolley snapped on the third, and he had to wheeze about pushing the broken contraption for three holes until a replacement arrived, may have explained why it took the 42-year-old a while to get moving.

Henderson, the European Tour's rookie of the year in 1997, has won the Tartan Tour's order of merit twice and the Northern Open once but he has still to get his hands on the domestic circuit's most celebrated prize. He's had the trophy in his grasp a few times, though. A decade ago, in 2002, he was six ahead with one round to play but slithered off the top with a closing 76. "I've thrown it away plenty of times down the years," said Henderson.

Hutcheon, the Scottish champion 13 years ago, kept himself in contention with a 68, that was burnished by a putt of 30-feet for birdie on the ninth, but the triple European Challenge Tour winner knows Fox will take some catching. "He [Fox] was playing in the group behind us and he was just raining irons down on the greens," he said.

Hutton, the Downfield veteran, joined Hutcheon on the 204 mark with a 69 that left him in the "best position I've been in this championship for as long as I can remember."

Alan Lockhart, one off the lead at halfway, saw the defence of his title crumble as he stumbled to a bogey-strewn 78 that dropped him down into a tie for 14th on 214.