Rory McIlroy joined Danny Willett at the top of the leaderboard as the predicted heavy rain arrived on day three of the Dubai Duty Free Irish Open Hosted by the Rory Foundation.
County Kildare is known for its changeable climate and while it was a calm morning at The K Club, once the leading groups got to the course, the Irish weather arrived to test the players.
Willett, playing his first European Tour event since his Masters Tournament victory, was level par for his first four holes but McIlroy was one under for the day to join him at eight under.
Joint overnight leader Marc Warren and Matthew Southgate were then a further shot back, one clear of the surging Rafa Cabrera-Bello.
Warren found the trees off the tee on the first to drop a shot and fall out of the lead and Willett repeated the trick on the second to make it a three-way tie at seven under.
Southgate had played the first in beautiful fashion to hole a ten-footer for a birdie and he picked up another on the fourth.
But playing partner McIlroy also took advantage of the par five to get his nose in front before Willett joined him at eight under with a birdie of his own on the same hole.
Cabrera-Bello had birdies on the fourth, fifth, sixth, ninth and 11th to get to six under after 13 holes, a shot clear of Jaco Van Zyl and Tyrrell Hatton.
Stephen Gallacher and Sébastien Gros were then at four under, one ahead of clubhouse leaders Grégory Bourdy and Romain Wattel.
