Eddie Pepperell produced an excellent display of front-running to hold off the chasing pack and maintain his three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Sky Sports British Masters.
Opening rounds of 67-69 had created that cushion for the home favourite at Walton Heath Golf Club and a third-round 71 moved him to nine under ahead of countryman Jordan Smith, Swede Alexander Björk, Frenchman Julien Guerrier and American Julian Suri.
Italy's Andrea Pavan matched the lowest round of the week with a 67 to sit five shots off the lead alongside another Englishman in Matt Wallace.
World Number 50 Pepperell has finished in the top ten in five of his last eight events as he looks for a second European Tour win after victory at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in February.
The 27 year old will head into Sunday with a solo 54-hole lead for the first time in his career as he looks to become the first wire-to-wire winner on the European Tour since Wallace at last season's Open de Portugal at Morgado Golf Resort.
“It would have been nice to hole a couple of putts on the back nine for sure,” he said. “Give myself a bit more daylight.
“But I'm confident that I can go out there tomorrow and shoot three, four under par and make everyone else's life very difficult. New position for me, first time I've ever gone out there with a three-shot lead on a Saturday so, to have maintained it, I would say is not a failure.
“Looking back today, I did feel like I hit a lot of nice, solid shots. If I can achieve that tomorrow, I'll be happy.”
Wallace was Pepperell's nearest challenger at the start of the day but when the four-time European Tour winner hit a clumsy chip to drop a shot on the first, the advantage was up to four.
The leader 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, but hit a lovely approach and holed a putt with plenty of left-to-right break on the next to re-establish his cushion.
Looking back today, I did feel like I hit a lot of nice, solid shots. If I can achieve that tomorrow, I'll be happy - Eddie Pepperell
The chasing pack were gathering behind him and the lead was cut to two as he made six pars in a row but he broke that run in spectacular style, getting on the 11th in two and holing from 14 feet for an eagle to get to double figures and back into that four-shot lead.
A three-putt on the next cut his advantage to three and playing partner Smith trimmed it to two with three holes to play.
Smith had turned in level par with two birdies and two bogeys and when he made a third bogey of the day on the tenth, he was four off the lead.
The 25 year old matched playing partner Pepperell with an eagle on the 11th after getting on the green in two and hit an excellent approach into the next before holing an eight-footer on the 15th.
A poor tee-shot on the 16th led to a bogey, however, and Smith slipped back into the four-man group at six under.
Björk had double-bogeyed the third but hit back with birdies on the fifth, sixth, tenth, 11th and 12th, and a putt from off the green on the 13th had him within two before he parred his way home.
Suri also double-bogeyed the third but made a hat-trick of gains from the sixth and added further birdies on the 11th and 13th to move right into contention. The 2017 Made in Denmark champion hit wonderful approach into the last but was unfortunate to see his ball hit the pin, and he did well to two-putt and save par.
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 but gave the shot straight back before holing a lengthy putt on the eighth and taking advantage of the par five 11th to get within two before parring his way back.
Pavan was bogey-free with gains on the first, ninth, tenth, 11th and 14th, while Wallace added six bogeys to an eagle and three birdies in a 71.
Frenchman Adrien Saddier matched Pavan's 67 to sit at three under alongside 2015 champion Matthew Fitzpatrick, 2008 Masters Tournament winner Trevor Immelman and last week's victor Lucas Bjerregaard.
