Adam Blyth of Australia will take a one stroke lead into the final round of the Maybank Malaysian Open after carding a six under par 66 to edge ahead of Alexander Noren of Sweden and China's Liang Wen-chong.
Blyth, who began the day on eight under, fired an eagle and six birdies on Saujana Golf and Country Club's Palm Course to storm to the top of the leaderboard, one shot ahead of Noren (69) and Liang (67).
Miles Tunnicliff recorded the day's best round with a nine under 63 to join American Anthony Kang (64) and Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand (65) in a tie for fourth on 12 under.
Overnight leader Danny Chia of Malaysia struggled with a two over 74 which dropped him back into a tie for seventh with Shiv Kapur of India (66) on 11 under.
Blyth, who has yet to record a victory in five seasons on the Asian Tour, trailed Chia by five strokes at the start of the round but picked up birdies on the first, fourth and seventh to move up the leaderboard.
The 27 year old from Brisbane dropped a shot with a bogey on the tricky par four eighth but consecutive birdies on the tenth and 11th and an eagle on the 13th saw him move into first place.
The Australian improved to 15 under with a birdie on the 15th but bogeyed the next to finish the round on 14 under par.
“I’m very happy. At the start of the day, you always want to have a chance and that was the goal and I managed to get into that position, so it’s good,” he said.
“My first pro event was here and I finished well so it was a good start to my career. I have fond memories here, it would mean the world if I can win any tournament, but here will be great. But it’s a long way away and we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves.”
Noren began the day on ten under, three shots off the lead but moved ahead of Chia to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on the third, fourth and eighth.
The Swede kept pace with Blyth with his fourth birdie of the round on the 13th but dropped to 12 under following bogeys on the 15th and 17th. However a birdie at the last saw him draw level with Liang and within one shot of Blyth heading into the final round.
And afterwards he was quick to acknowledge the importance of that putt at the last.
“I really wanted to get myself into that last group and I managed to do that with the putt on 18 so I am happy,” he said.
“It’s fine when you have been playing well for three days because you know your way around the course by the time the final round comes. You basically know what clubs you are going to hit off most of the tees and where you want to put your ball on most of the fairways.”
Liang, the Asian Tour Order of Merit winner two years ago, shot a steady 67 that included six birdies and a lone bogey.
Tunnicliff charged up the leaderboard after firing nine birdies in his bogey free round of 63, which put him in contention for only his third win on The European Tour and first since the 2004 Diageo Championship at Gleneagles.
Having missed the cut in all four of his previous starts on The European Tour this season, Tunnicliff was naturally delighted with his third round effort.
"I enjoyed that, it is the first time in a long time that it has come together so nicely," he said.
"I was struggling for the first three weeks of the year in the desert so I took a week's break in Dubai with the family and didn't touch a golf club. I just chilled out for the week and it seems to have worked because I came here a lot more excited about playing again.
"I just hit a lot of good shots and the putts dropped in when I needed them to."
