Eddie Pepperell maintained his three-shot lead on day three of the Sky Sports British Masters despite making an early bogey at Walton Heath Golf Club.
The local favourite started the day at eight under and while a bogey in his opening three holes dropped him back to seven, he was three clear of fellow Englishmen Ross Fisher, Jordan Smith and Matt Wallace, and Frenchman Julien Guerrier.
Two more home favourites in Steven Brown and Sam Horsfield were then at three under.
Pepperell had to go to the Qualifying School after losing his playing privileges in 2016 but is enjoying a breakout season, winning his first European Tour title at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
The World Number 50 has finished in the top ten in five of his last eight events and carried that momentum into a testing week on home soil, with high winds in play for the third day in a row.
Wallace missed the green on the first and a clumsy chip led to a bogey, extending Pepperell's lead to four shots.
Smith missed the green in a similar spot and he also dropped a shot to fall into the group at three under.
Guerrier was beaten by the light on Friday and had to return to complete three holes of round two in the morning, dropping a shot to start the day at four under.
He holed an 18-footer on the second to make the most of the par five and the lead was cut to three shots.
Smith played a nice chip on the same hole to get back to four under, following in the footsteps of Brown, who had capitalised on it to sit a further shot back.
Guerreier missed the green on the third and when he failed to get up and down for his par, the lead was back up to four shots.
Fisher had bogeyed the first but picked the shot straight back up and when he holed a 20-footer on the fourth, he was in that group in second.
And that was just three back as Pepperell sent his tee-shot on the third right into the heather and came up 100 yards short with his second, failing to get up and down for par.
Horsfield was level par for his first three holes to sit a shot ahead of 2015 champion Matthew Fitzpatrick, reigning Race to Dubai champion Tommy Fleetwood, South Africans Darren Fichardt and Trevor Immelman, and Italian Andrea Pavan.
