Lucas Bjerregaard leads Garcia, Jaidee by 3 at the BMW Masters

Lucas Bjerregaard is finishing the European Tour season with a flurry, taking a three-shot lead into the weekend at the BMW Masters in China.

The 24-year-old shot a second-consecutive 6-under 66 at Lake Malaren Golf Club to lead over Sergio Garcia and Thongchai Jaidee, tied for second on 9-under 135.

Garcia was pleased to remain in contention despite conditions turning cold and windy.

“Still felt like I left at least three or four shots out there,” he said. “But it was obviously difficult; if you didn’t hit the right shot at the right time, you could pay and I did a couple of times.”

Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and 2015 BMW PGA Championship winner Byeong-Hun An are tied for third place at 8-under total.

Danny Willett, who is second to idle Race to Dubai leader Rory McIlroy in the standings, trails Bjerregaard by nine shots heading into the weekend. Four other players, including Justin Rose and Branden Grace, could overtake McIlroy for the top spot, depending on their finishes, heading into next week’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

However, the story remains Bjerregaard, who finished runner-up to Justin Rose at the Hong Kong Open three weeks ago. In his last seven European Tour starts, Bjerregaard has seven top-10 finishes, a coming out party heading into a Ryder Cup year.

The Dane is hoping that experience in Hong Kong will give him the confidence to finish the job this time.

“It was nice in Hong Kong to prove to myself and to everyone else that I can still compete up there,” he said. “So hopefully I can do that again this week and just come up one place better than last time.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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