Richardo Santos continues to be one of the big surprises in this year’s ISPS Handa World Cup of Golf despite a late round hiccup on day three of the $8m event.

The Portugal player has traveled to Australia for a fist time in his career and he’s now within reach of grabbing the $US 1.2m first prize cheque for individual honours.

Santos posted two rounds of 69 to be just among just four players to have shot under 70 over the first two days.

“I played really solid, even better than the first day but then my putter was not too hot today,” he said after his second round.

“The best part of my game around here is my short game as around here the wind is really important and you want to keep the ball in play and not be to aggressive in going for the pins.

“You’ve just got to be careful with it and if you’re in the right position then you can enjoy it.”

However there was a first touch of any pain for Santos on day three when he took a double bogey ‘6’ at the par four 16th hole and then dropped a shot a 17 to end with a round of 73.

It left the former Madeira Island Open winner trailing seven shots behind Australia’s Jason Day who fired a five under par 66 to end at nine under par and one behind Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn.

Santos played the third round in the company of Day and despite the overwhelming crowd support for the Australian Santos could be proud of the way he conducted and handled himself.