Ernie Els climbed nine places on the leaderboard on Saturday with a four-under-par 67 lifting him to fourth after the third round of the US Senior Open Championship.

His six birdies and two bogeys took him to four-under for the tournament, and put him seven shots behind the leader Padraig Harrington, whose five-under 65 took him to 11-under. That was five strokes clear of Americans Gene Sauers Rob Labritz, with Els alone in fourth.

Els began his round with a birdie on the first, but dropped a shot on the third. He made birdies on six, eight and nine, but he made his second bogey of the round on the 10^th. Birdies on 13 and 18 completed his third-round scoring.

Retief Goosen had a four-over 75 in the third round to slip to four-over for the tournament and a share of 34^th, while James Kingston battled to a five-over 76, dropping to 10-over and a share of 62^nd.