An astonishing 31 players were separated by only two strokes as the overnight leaders prepared to tee off again at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland.
There was a four-way tie for the lead at the halfway stage, but that became a seven-way tie when Dane Thomas Björn, winner at Gleneagles last Sunday, birdied the first two holes, Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed covered the first 12 holes in six under and home favourite Damian Ulrich eagled the first.
They joined Rory McIlroy, Simon Dyson, Gary Boyd and Jamie Donaldson on eight under par, while there were 12 players one behind and 11 more on six under.
The changes at the top continued almost minute by minute.
Former World Number One Martin Kaymer was first to nine under with an eagle on the first, but was then joined when McIlroy and Willett birdied the same hole and Paraguay's Fabrizio Zanotti started with two in a row.
After Boyd and Donaldson began with birdies there had already been 12 different players in at least a share of the lead on the day.
Ireland's Peter Lawrie and Scot Stephen Gallacher got in on the act, becoming part of a nine-way tie on nine under.
Recent Irish Open winner Dyson, though, made a poor start, failing to birdie the long first and then bogeying the par three third to slip two behind and all the way to 16th along with, among others, Lee Westwood.
