England’s Luke Joy fired a course-record 64 to join Gabriel Canizares on top of the leaderboard heading into the final round of the MENA Golf Tour’s American Express Dirab Golf Championship on Tuesday.

Starting the day six shots behind the leaders at Dirab Country Club in Saudi Arabia, Joy rattled off an eagle and seven birdies, including five on the front nine, against a lone bogey to reach nine-under par for the tournament along with joint overnight leader Gabriel Canizares of Spain, who carded a second-round 70.

England’s Craig Hinton, who shared the opening day’s lead with Canizares, sits alone in third place one shot adrift of the joint leaders, while Spain’s Mariano Ochoa and South Africa’s consistent Thriston Arthur Lawrence moved into a tie for sixth place at six-under par, one shot ahead of England’s talented amateur James Allan.

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It was Joy, a two-time winner on the MENA Golf Tour, who made the biggest charge of the day, putting himself in pole position for a shot at the title. A change of putter did the trick for the Englishman as he started with a great birdie on the first which set the tone for his almost flawless round.

“Of all the seven birdies, the one on the first was quite pleasing as I holed a nice putt from 20 feet,” said Joy, who bettered the previous course record of a 66 jointly held by Pakistan Shafiq Masih, Craig Smith of Wales and Ian Keenan of England.

“I think I need to replicate this performance in the final round if I were to go the full distance,” said the Englishman, who played the first two rounds in the company of Prince Khaled Saud Al Faisal.

“It was a privilege playing with the Prince, who is a very relaxed person,” said Joy, whose back nine were highlighted by an eagle on the par-five 13th when he stiffed his  approach shot to within 15 feet and made the putt.

Spain’s Canizares, who is a son of European Tour veteran Jose Maria, made a solid start, rolling in three birdies to make the turn at three-under. He picked up another shot at the 14th, but bogeys on the 14th and 18th prevented him from taking the solo lead.

England’s young prodigy Allan carded a modest one-under par 71 to stay in the lead in the amateur division, one ahead of his compatriot Elliott Oxlade, who backed his opening 69 with a 71.

Mehdi Saissi returned a solid round of four-under 68 to take sole possession of the lead in the MENA Division, upstaging fellow Moroccan and overnight leader Ayoub Lguirati, who a carded a second round 74 to slip one shotbehind.

Othman Almulla shot a level-par 72, which was seven shots better than his first-round score of 79, to lead the Saudi challenge along with Ali Alsakha at seven-over.

Elsewhere, Spain’s Carlos Balmaseda, who is MENA Golf Tour ambassador, shot a five-under par 67 to move to four-under along with compatriots Xavier Puig and Sixto Casabona-Navarro.

With just five shots separating the top 10, the final day’s proceedings promises to be a thrilling affair.