Nathan Kimsey carded a 66 to set the clubhouse target early on day three of the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters.
With nine players tied for the lead overnight, it was set up for a frantic day at Doha Golf Club but it was Kimsey, who started the day four shots off the lead, who made an early impression.
The Qualifying School winner made a single bogey as he moved to ten under, where he was joined by one of those overnight leaders in Jeunghun Wang.
The South Korean birdied two of his opening five holes thanks to some smart iron play to sit a shot ahead of South Africa's Thomas Aiken, Irishman Paul Dunne and Swede Joakim Lagergren.
Englishman Kimsey opened with a birdie and added another on the fourth but his round really came to life as he rattled off three in a row from the eighth to hit the summit.
Another birdie on the 14th handed him a two-shot lead but he dropped a shot on the 15th before bouncing back on the next.
Wang, a two-time winner last season, hit tight approaches in to the third and fifth to get himself into a share of the lead where Lagergren had briefly found himself minutes earlier.
He opened with a birdie and a double-bogey but then made three gains in a row before adding another on the seventh to turn in 33. Back-to-back birdies on the tenth and 11th then had him at ten under before he gave the shot back on the next.
Dunne holed out for a brilliant eagle on the par four fifth to get to nine under after seven holes, with Aiken at that mark after four following a nice approach to the first.
Overnight leaders Jorge Campillo, Bradley Dredge, Nacho Elvira and Jaco Van Zyl were then at eight under alongside Nino Bertasio, Rafa Cabrera Bello, Oliver Fisher, Romain Langasque, Mike Lorenzo-Vera and Graeme Storm, who were on their back nines.
