VIRGINIA WATER, England: Six birdies in a row, two shy of the European Tour record, catapulted veteran Thomas Bjorn into a five-stroke lead after the BMW PGA Championship third round on Saturday.

After an overnight downpour delayed the start of play by three hours, it was raining birdies for the 43-year-old Dane as he left a world-class field trailing in his wake with a dynamic five-under-par 67 at the tour's flagship event.

Bjorn, who has been at the top of the leaderboard since firing a record 62 in the opening round, picked up strokes at the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th before adding another at 18 to rack up a 15-under total of 201 at Wentworth.

The performance was all the more laudable after he began his round with an ugly double-bogey six at the first caused by a hooked drive.

Luke Donald (68), the 2011 and 2012 champion, was in second place on 206, one ahead of Irishman Shane Lowry (73).

Former world No. 1 Rory McIlroy (69), looking more assured with every passing day following his midweek breakup with fiancee Caroline Wozniacki, was tied for fourth spot on 208 with Dutchman Joost Luiten (67).

Scores from the third round of the European PGA Championship at Wentworth on Saturday (GBR/IRL unless stated; par 72):

201 - Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 62-72-67

206 - Luke Donald 71-67-68

207 - Shane Lowry 64-70-73

208 - Joost Luiten (NED) 70-71-67, Rory McIlroy 68-71-69

209 - Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 69-71-69

210 - Francesco Molinari (ITA) 71-74-65, Anthony Wall 67-76-67, Jamie Donaldson 73-69-68, Eddie Pepperell 69-73-68, Chris Doak 69-72-69, Andy Sullivan 70-71-69, Thomas Aiken (RSA) 68-72-70, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 68-71-71

211 - Gary Stal (FRA) 66-76-69, Jonas Blixt 68-71-72, Rafa Cabrera-Bello (ESP) 65-73-73

212 - Simon Dyson 69-74-69, Martin Kaymer (GER) 68-75-69, Justin Rose 70-73-69, Marcel Siem (GER) 69-71-72, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 67-72-73

213 - Stephen Gallacher 70-75-68, Richard Green (AUS) 70-73-70, Mark Foster 72-71-70, Mark Hooper 71-71-71, Marc Warren 73-69-71, Seve Benson 71-69-73

214 - Chris Wood 73-72-69, Alexander Levy (FRA) 71-73-70, Thorbjorn Olesen (DEN) 71-73-70, David Horsey 68-76-70, Richard Finch 71-72-71, Anders Hansen (DEN) 71-69-74

215 - Gregory Havret (FRA) 69-76-70, Tyrrell Hatton 75-70-70, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 70-75-70, George Coetzee (RS) 75-70-70, Alvaro Quiros (ESP) 73-72-70, Simon Thornton (IRL) 74-68-73, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 70-71-74

Selected

216 - Tom Lewis 73-72-71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 72-72-72

219 - Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 72-73-74, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 69-76-74, Mikko Ilonen (FIN) 71-71-77