Aaron Rai will take a comfortable six-stroke lead into the final round of the Honma Hong Kong Open presented by Amundi after stepping up his bid to claim a maiden European Tour title on day three.
Englishman Rai followed up Friday's course-record 61 with a 68 on Saturday to get to 16 under par and move six clear of countrymen Tommy Fleetwood and Matthew Fitzpatrick.
But it was not all plain sailing for Rai, who saw his four-shot halfway lead cut to one as he reached the turn after South Korean Hyowon Park made a fast start to his third round.
A string of bogeys saw Park's challenge falter, though, and Rai turned on the style on the back nine to open up a six-shot gap, despite carding a closing bogey.
Former Masters Champion Sergio Garcia was alongside Jason Scrivener in a tie for fourth on nine under after producing a sensational 64 which included a brilliant eagle at the par-four tenth.
Three-time Challenge Tour winner Rai fired a birdie at the fourth before carding his first bogey of the week at the difficult ninth to remain at 14 under after nine holes.
But the 23 year old bounced straight back from that dropped shot with a birdie from tap-in range at the tenth before holing his 22-foot birdie putt at the 12th to get to 16 under.
And with Park dropping a shot at the 11th, Rai's lead was back to four strokes.
After making a stunning par save at the 14th, Rai notched another birdie from four feet at the 17th but he dropped a shot at the last after getting into tree trouble off the tee.
But with playing partners Park and Fitzpatrick also dropping shots at the 18th, Rai found himself in possession of a six-shot lead after three rounds at Hong Kong Golf Club.
After his round, Rai said: "I'm very pleased overall. It wasn't quite as low as the score yesterday but a very solid round.
"Nothing is ever done until it's done and 18 holes is a lot of golf.
"So a six-shot lead - anything can happen, you have to be aware of that.
"Something which felt a little bit tricky today was still being able to play in the same way but just be smart at the same time, and it felt a little bit too much on the back foot."
Ryder Cup star Fleetwood began his third round with a disappointing bogey at the first but picked up birdies at the third, sixth, tenth, 12th and 13th to sign for a 66 and jump to ten under.
He is looking forward to his last round of 2018 on Sunday.
"Whatever Aaron does, you can't do anything about it," said the 2017 Race to Dubai champion.
"For me, I'll just keep doing the same things and try and put one last good round together and then go home and enjoy some rest. I'm looking forward to it. One last Sunday of golf."
Fitzpatrick started brightly on Saturday, following up a birdie at the second with an eagle at the long third to get to 11 under.
Another birdie followed at the seventh before the Sheffield native bogeyed the tricky ninth. After making a gain at the short 12th, Fitzpatrick carded bogeys at the 16th and 18th to post a 68.
The 24 year old was pleased with his tee-to-green performance but not his third-round total.
He said: "I played really, really well tee-to-green. I'm just really disappointed to only shoot two under, really, when I had nine chances inside 15 feet and I think I holed two, maybe three.
"You know, when you're giving yourself chances like this and the greens are sort of as good as this, you have to take advantage of it."
