BERNIE McGUIRE.

Irish Independent.

Hong Kong.

A RADICAL new haircut and a Tiger Woods inspired red shirt helped Damien McGrane to record his lowest ever score on day three of the UBS Hong Kong Open.

The Wexford golfer shot eight birdies in a seven under par 63 to share in a new course record moments before Scotland's Simon Yates, also in red, bettered the mark by two on the Fanling course.

Yates birdied three holes in succession early in his round and the closing four for a 61 to finish with a two stroke lead on 11-under par in the co-sanctioned event.

The Thai-based Yates, who once represented Scotland in downhill skiing, finished ahead of fellow Scot Colin Montgomerie, South Africa's James Kingston and Sweden's Martin Erlandsson who are tied in second place.

McGrane is next best on eight under, sharing fifth place with Canadian Rick Gibson and Korean Kang Wook-soon.

Unlike Woods, whose power colour is red, Yates revealed he was in two minds whether to pull on the shirt. "This shirt is an unlucky shirt and every time I put it on, I'm two or three over. So I'm thinking 'I'm going to dump this red shirt today,'" said Yates. But now it's changed my luck and from nearly winning a kilo gold bar on Thursday for a hole-in-one, it's really nice to come back and be in contention."

McGrane birdied four of his opening six holes, including three in succession from the second and after a bogey at nine, he birdied three in a row from the 14th before ending his round by rolling in a six-footer for birdie at the last.

"Maybe it's the red shirt, but this is a game of momentum and I managed to get on a roll and went with it, and it was nice to keep the momentum going right up to the 18th green." said McGrane.

"I just saw the course a lot less difficult today compared to the first couple of days when I thought it played a lot harder. It helps if you can see it as an easier challenge than it really is. So my golf was very positive and I played a lot of good shots while I kept doing the simple things well, especially with the short irons."

McGrane's 63 is his lowest score ever on the European Tour, beating his 64 on a similar par 70 course in the 2003 Turespana Majorca Classic.

His lowest score on a par 72 layout is a 66 recorded on the second day of the 2004 Portuguese Open.

McGrane had his head shaved after Friday's 71 by the Hong Kong Golf Club barber for a $HK100 donation in one of many "Operation Santa Claus" fund-raising exercises organised by UBS throughout the tournament.

"With the hot weather out here, this new hair cut suits me great just to get rid of it, well at least the bit I have left to get rid of," he said. "I've had my head shaved before and besides, I don't have to dress up as Santa Claus this year wearing the long white beard and so on but it will grow back."

Gary Murphy had six birdies in his round of 67 for a two under tally, almost earning a 1Kg gold bar worth $US15,000 for a hole-in-one at the 12th.

Murphy's eight-iron hit the flagstick below the hole and cannoned out.

But Murphy's regret was Robert Jan Derksen's pleasure with the Dutchman later scooping the prize.

Peter Lawrie dropped four shots in three holes mid-round for an eventual 71 and a two over par tally.