Scott Hend recovered from an early bogey to maintain his one-shot lead in the third round of the BMW International Open at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof.
High winds had made scoring very difficult on days one and two but calm conditions brought lower numbers on Saturday and Australian Hend played his first four holes in one under to move to seven under for the week.
That left the two-time European Tour winner one shot ahead of Swede Henric Sturehed and two clear of local hero Martin Kaymer and Dane Søren Kjeldsen.
Chilean Nico Geyger, German Maximilian Kieffer, England's Aaron Rai and Scot Connor Syme were then at four under.
Dane Lucas Bjerregaard made the big early move, picking up shots on the fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth to turn in 32 and move to four under.
Kaymer looked set to delight the home crowds when he hit a stunning approach into the first and although he could not convert his birdie putt, Kieffer in the group behind did make a gain to give the locals something to cheer about.
Sturehed left himself just three feet for birdie on the first to join the lead and he soon held it on his own as Hend and Geyger both got plugged in the front-right bunker on the first and surrendered bogeys.
Kieffer gave his birdie straight back on the second to drop back to four under and he was joined there by Kjeldsen who took advantage of the par five third.
Kaymer then jumped out of that group, putting his tee-shot on the par three fourth to 15 feet and rolling home to move into a share of second.
He soon had Bjerregaard for company after a birdie on the 11th but the Portugal Masters champion double-bogeyed the next to slip back.
Big-hitting Hend elected to lay-up on the third and the tactic paid off as he holed a ten-footer for birdie to move back into a share of top spot.
Kjeldsen put an approach to tap-in range on the sixth to join Kaymer one back and Syme was slowly making his move, birdieing the first, eighth and 12th to get to four under.
Hend was clearly back in the groove and he holed an 18-footer down the hill on the fourth to reclaim top spot on his own.
Rai, meanwhile, played his first five holes in level par.
Defending champion Andres Romero equalled the lowest round of the week with a 67 to set the clubhouse target at three under.
The Argentinian turned in 35 with three birdies and a bogey and while he dropped another shot on the 11th, he rattled off five birdies in a row from the 13th.
Bjerregaard, Sébastien Gros, José-Filipe Lima and Andy Sullivan were also three under.
