Henrik Stenson will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the BMW International Open but he will have Thorbjørn Olesen breathing down his neck at Golf Club Gut Laerchenhof.
The vast bulk of the field had to return on Sunday morning to complete their third rounds after most of day three was washed out, with the leaders yet to start their penultimate circuit.
Stenson entered the day one shot ahead of Olesen and maintained that cushion as both men fired rounds of 67, with second-round co-leader Raphaël Jacquelin five shots behind the Swede at 11 under after a 72.
Jacquelin's fellow Frenchman Mike Lorenzo-Vera was also at 11 under alongside South African Darren Fichardt, with his countryman Zander Lombard a further shot back.
Kiradech Aphibarnrat was at nine under, a shot clear of Bernd Wiesberger, with Spanish duo Sergio Garcia and defending champion Pablo Larrazábal at seven under with much of the field having begun their final rounds.
With such a cushion, it could come down to a shoot-out between the two men at the top of the leaderboard but - with such a strong chasing pack - a thrilling finale looks to be in the offing in Germany.
Stenson is going in search of his tenth European Tour title but his first since 2014 while Dane Olesen is in the hunt for his fourth and to make it three winning seasons in a row.
Both of the leaders took advantage of the par five third and when Olesen followed that with a gain on the fourth, he was in a share of the lead.
A pair of excellent approach shots to the seventh set up further birdies but a bogey from Olesen on the next saw Stenson lead at the turn.
Olesen found his feet again on the back nine, rattling off a trio of birdies from the 13th, but Stenson is made of stern stuff and birdied the 13th and 15th before adding another - his only gain of the day that did not come on a par five - on the 17th.
It was nice today, I hit quite a lot of greens and I drove it a little bit better than I did the first two days so it's a nice round of golf - Thorbjørn Olesen
"I'm happy with a 67.
"The greens are rolling really well, a little but quicker actually. Obviously the rough is very tough when it's rained this much, very heavy, so you want to stay out of there."
Lorenzo-Vera overcame a triple-bogey on the fifth to sign for a 67 with eight birdies, while Jacquelin endured a frustrating day with two birdies and two bogeys.
Fichardt was level par for the round as he stood on the 12th tee but he made three birdies in a row and then added another on the last to launch himself into contention.
Lombard had two bogeys in his last four holes in a 71, while Aphibarnrat finished the front nine with four bogeys in five holes on his way to a 74.
