GERMANY, 26 Sept 2015, (AFP) - The 45-year-old veteran carded a seven under par 64 at Golf Resort Bad Griesbach with eight birdies against just a single bogey in his third round to climb 14 places up the leaderboard.
He is on 13 under par for the tournament with English duo Ross Fisher and Graeme Storm back in second spot alongside Pelle Edberg of Sweden.
Thongchai had four birdies in an outward 31 before dropping his only shot of the day at the tenth. Birdies at the 12th, 13th and 15th took him level with clubhouse leader Edberg before another birdie at the 16th gave him the outright lead.
"I played solid all three rounds but today I putted much better," said the Thai veteran.
"You have to have good tee shots here as the greens are tricky. I enjoy playing this course and my game is good right now.
"I’m confident and I hit a lot of good shots. The course is not very long so being in position is important. I’ve been confident with my irons and I've got a good score.
"Seven under is very good for me today -- I’ve not had seven under for a long time."
Leading European Open third round scores at the Golf Resort Bad Griesbach on Saturday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 71):
200 - Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 68 68 64
201 - Ross Fisher 67 65 69, Pelle Edberg (SWE) 67 71 63, Graeme Storm 65 67 69
202 - Mikko Ilonen (FIN) 69 66 67, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 67 68 67, Jamie Donaldson 67 68 67
203 - Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 66 70 67, Peter Uihlein (USA) 68 68 67
204 - Lucas Bjerregaard (DEN) 68 68 68, Peter Hanson (SWE) 68 70 66, Alessandro Tadini (ITA) 68 69 67, Darren Fichardt (RSA) 65 69 70, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 64 72 68, Johan Edfors (SWE) 66 68 70
205 - Hennie Otto (RSA) 67 70 68, Lasse Jensen (DEN) 68 70 67, Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 70 67 68, Rikard Karlberg (SWE) 68 71 66
206 - Richard Bland 65 70 71, John Parry 66 70 70, An Byeong-Hun (KOR) 68 65 73, Richard McEvoy 66 67 73, James Morrison 67 69 70, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 70 67 69, Scott Hend (AUS) 69 69 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 67 69 70, Justin Walters (RSA) 67 68 71, Gregory Havret (FRA) 69 70 67, Bradley Dredge 68 70 68