Rory McIlroy cruised to an effortless looking 64 to move into contention for the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship as Pádraig Harrington and Shane Lowry saw their title chances suffer a reverse.

While Lowry and Harrington shot one under 71st at Kingsbarns and St Andrews respectively, they fell 10 spots on the leaderboard to tied 12th and six strokes behind leader Oliver Wilson who carded a 65.

Seeking his maiden win and battling to win back his tour card, former Ryder Cup player Wilson is three shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood, who shot 62 on the Old Course, and McIlroy, who continued his remarkable run of form around the famous links with a 64.

McIlroy is hoping to win the title on Sunday and celebrate his father and pro-am partner Gerry's 55th birthday in style.

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McIlroy said: “He has been such a rock for me over the years and has always been there to cheer my successes and give me encouragement when it hasn’t always come together. I would love it if we could win the team championship together.”

They have work to do in that department as Brooks Koepka and Paul Harris lead them by six strokes on 29 under par after an amazing 57, which is the best score of the week by three shots.

McIlroy birdied five holes in a row from the third and picked up another shot at the ninth to turn in 30.

Birdies at the 11th, 12th and 14th put him on track to break his personal best of 63 from the 2010 Open Championship but while bogeyed the 16th and parred his way home, he was not too disappointed.

“It was mission accomplished, definitely," McIlroy said. "Any time you shoot a score like that around St Andrews, you have to be happy. 

"I got myself into contention going into tomorrow and Dad and I are going to get to play St Andrews on his birthday which will be a huge treat for both of us.

"It crossed my mind to try to beat my previous best score, 63. That was a bit of a target for me.  I wasn't quite able to do that.”

Wilson, who led the Championship after the first round, shot a resilient 65 at St Andrews to go three shots ahead of McIlroy and confessed he wasn't surprised to see the world No 1 make a charge.

Wilson said: “I just expect Rory to do that.  I expect him to shoot lights out every time he tees it up.  The other names that are on the board don't really affect me.

"I'm just doing my thing, trying to shoot as good a score as I can, get it in play, one shot at a time, all the boring stuff, but it's true.  And I managed to do that really well.”

McIlroy is on 12-under-par with three other players, France’s Raphael Jacquelin and Alexander Levy and Fleetwood who shot a blistering, ten-under-par 62 on the Old Course.

If it was a good day for McIlroy, it was an average one for Lowry and Harrington.

The Dubliner got off to a poor start with bogeys at the second and fourth and while he birdied the fifth, seventh and ninth to tie for the lead, he was uninspired on the way home.

Tentative at times on the greens, he drove into the Beardies at the par-five 14th and missed from inside eight feet for par.

Though he birdied the 18th to repair some of the damage, Harrington has a host of players to deal with if he is to win the event for a third time and end his six-year title drought on the European Tour.

Lowry would also have been disappointed with his 71 at Kingsbarns, where he had 32 putts and bogeyed his final hole to slip to tied 12th with Harrington, Chris Doak, Stephen Gallacher, Richard Sterne, Koepka and Northern Ireland's Michael Hoey.

Hoey, champion in 2012, was also within a couple of shots of the lead after he birdied four of his first six holes at Kingsbarns and then followed a birdie at the 11th with an eagle three at the 12th.

Bunkered at the par-three 13th, he failed to save par but made a two at the 15th before parring his way home for a seven under 65.

Triumphant Ryder Cup skipper Paul McGinley was the only other Irish player to make the cut, carding a three under 69 on the Old Course to make it with a shot to spare on five under par.

Damien McGrane shot 68 at St Andrews and Peter Lawrie a 70 at Carnoustie but both missed the cut by a shot with Gareth Maybin (70 KB, E), Kevin Phelan (72 SA, E), Simon Thornton (75 SA, +3) and Darren Clarke (74 KB +4) also heading home.

Lawrie will still compete in the final round as he and partner Kieran McManus are fourth in the Pro-Am, just three shots off the lead after a 66.

Harrington and JP McManus are tied 16th, eight off the pace on 21 under after a 66.

Complete third round scores

201 O Wilson (Eng) 64 72 65,

204 A Levy (Fra) 68 68 68, R McIlroy (Nir) 73 67 64, T Fleetwood (Eng) 69 73 62, R Jacquelin (Fra) 65 70 69,

205 R Palmer (USA) 69 68 68, C Wood (Eng) 70 69 66, R Ramsay (Sco) 69 68 68,

206 G Coetzee (RSA) 71 67 68, R Derksen (Ned) 73 70 63, L Oosthuizen (RSA) 70 74 62,

207 R Sterne (RSA) 73 66 68, S Lowry (Irl) 66 70 71, B Koepka (USA) 70 73 64, M Hoey (Nir) 72 70 65, S Gallacher (Sco) 68 70 69, C Doak (Sco) 70 67 70, P Harrington (Irl) 66 70 71,

208 R Karlsson (Swe) 72 68 68, P Casey (Eng) 69 73 66, M Siem (Ger) 69 71 68, A Cañizares (Esp) 72 71 65,

209 A Otaegui (Esp) 67 75 67, O Fisher (Eng) 74 69 66, J Parry (Eng) 68 73 68, B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 71 67, H Otto (RSA) 69 70 70, B Stone (RSA) 72 67 70, J McLeary (Sco) 67 72 70, P Lawrie (Sco) 69 72 68, G Bourdy (Fra) 67 71 71, S Hansen (Den) 72 68 69,

210 M Foster (Eng) 68 72 70, G Storm (Eng) 68 72 70, T Jaidee (Tha) 71 71 68, E Els (RSA) 71 74 65, R Green (Aus) 68 71 71, R Evans (Eng) 67 74 69, M Nixon (Eng) 70 70 70, D Howell (Eng) 70 72 68, B Grace (RSA) 76 65 69, F Aguilar (Chi) 71 67 72, T Aiken (RSA) 71 70 69, D Fichardt (RSA) 73 72 65, R Rock (Eng) 67 76 67,

211 P McGinley (Irl) 72 70 69, R Gonzalez (Arg) 69 70 72, G Havret (Fra) 74 71 66, T Pieters (Bel) 73 73 65, R Fisher (Eng) 73 73 65, E Grillo (Arg) 72 73 66, P Uihlein (USA) 73 69 69, C Lee (Sco) 71 71 69, N Elvira (Esp) 71 72 68, M Carlsson (Swe) 74 70 67, M Warren (Sco) 73 70 68, E Molinari (Ita) 73 68 70,

212 N Fasth (Swe) 72 71 69, R Bland (Eng) 71 71 70, A Saddier (Fra) 72 73 67, M Kieffer (Ger) 72 70 70, G Stal (Fra) 69 75 68, P Larrazábal (Esp) 71 73 68, N Dougherty (Eng) 72 69 71, G Porteous (Eng) 74 67 71, J Kruger (RSA) 75 71 66, L Bjerregaard (Den) 74 68 70, S Kapur (Ind) 70 72 70, J Scrivener (Aus) 72 72 68, F Molinari (Ita) 74 70 68, A Sullivan (Eng) 70 71 71, T Olesen (Den) 71 70 71,

CUT

213 J Quesne (Fra) 72 73 68, S Faldo (Eng) 71 72 70, T Lewis (Eng) 71 73 69, E De La Riva (Esp) 67 76 70, S Jamieson (Sco) 70 72 71, J Walters (RSA) 69 73 71, J Morrison (Eng) 72 70 71, D Willett (Eng) 74 70 69, M Ilonen (Fin) 74 71 68, P Lawrie (Irl) 70 73 70, A Wall (Eng) 73 70 70, D McGrane (Irl) 75 70 68, B Rumford (Aus) 74 73 66, F Zanotti (Par) 73 71 69, N Cullen (Aus) 73 70 70, R Wattel (Fra) 72 71 70, S Khan (Eng) 71 71 71, S Hutsby (Eng) 73 71 69, A Hansen (Den) 75 69 69, A Hall (Aus) 71 70 72,

214 H Porteous (RSA) 75 73 66, M Crespi (Ita) 73 70 71, N Holman (Aus) 71 74 69, C Montgomerie (Sco) 72 71 71, M Bremner (RSA) 73 71 70, P Whiteford (Sco) 74 71 69, R Finch (Eng) 72 70 72, D McKenzie (Aus) 70 74 70, A Johnston (Eng) 75 76 63, J Luiten (Ned) 72 70 72,

215 S Wakefield (Eng) 77 71 67, S Dyson (Eng) 73 71 71, T Hatton (Eng) 71 76 68, V Dubuisson (Fra) 71 69 75,

216 D Drysdale (Sco) 71 72 73, J Dantorp (Swe) 72 72 72, G Maybin (Nir) 72 74 70, M Manassero (Ita) 72 75 69, K Phelan (Irl) 73 71 72, R Kakko (Fin) 71 75 70, M Lampert (Ger) 72 73 71, C Schwartzel (RSA) 75 71 70, R Karlberg (Swe) 77 74 65, P Waring (Eng) 71 72 73,

217 R De Smidt (RSA) 75 71 71, M Kaymer (Ger) 74 72 71, R Cabrera-Bello (Esp) 77 72 68, M Madsen (Den) 72 77 68, A Pavan (Ita) 72 75 70, S Webster (Eng) 72 76 69, A Quiros (Esp) 71 77 69,

218 S Lyle (Sco) 71 77 70, K Horne (RSA) 71 75 72, J Harding (RSA) 75 74 69, T Fisher Jnr (RSA) 70 73 75,

219 S Thornton (Irl) 73 71 75, J Carlsson (Swe) 71 74 74, E Pepperell (Eng) 75 72 72, U Van Den Berg (RSA) 71 73 75, J Hansen (Den) 73 74 72,

220 W Ormsby (Aus) 75 72 73, E Goya (Arg) 75 74 71, M Baldwin (Eng) 77 71 72, D Clarke (Nir) 71 75 74, D Horsey (Eng) 74 75 71, D Huizing (Ned) 75 73 72, L De Jager (RSA) 76 74 70,

221 L Slattery (Eng) 75 75 71, T Lawrence (RSA) 68 73 80, S Kjeldsen (Den) 73 76 72, M Anguiano (USA) 71 74 76, J Campillo (Esp) 73 75 73, D Duval (USA) 78 70 73, J Hahn (USA) 73 74 74,

222 F Calmels (Fra) 73 73 76, D Brooks (Eng) 75 73 74, S Manley (Wal) 76 74 72, S Benson (Eng) 71 77 74, R Santos (Por) 72 78 72,

223 D Van Tonder (RSA) 72 78 73, J Kingston (RSA) 76 76 71, J Wilson (Aus) 74 77 72, S Kim (Kor) 78 73 72,

224 J Granberg (Fin) 75 71 78, C Del Moral (Esp) 71 77 76, A Hartø (Den) 77 72 75, M Griffin (Aus) 73 74 77, J Singh (Ind) 76 75 73,

225 V Riu (Fra) 74 75 76,

226 O Bekker (RSA) 79 76 71,

227 T Levet (Fra) 77 76 74,

229 M Lundberg (Swe) 77 80 72,

232 B Ninyette (Aus) 79 76 77, J Jeong (Kor) 77 76 79,

237 D Papadatos (Aus) 80 78 79,

RET Broberg (Swe) RT 0 0