England's Oliver Wilson was locked in a battle with Spanish Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia at the top of the leaderboard at the halfway point of the final round at the HSBC Champions today.
Mansfield-born 28 year old Wilson, who is again in contention for his maiden career victory, reached the turn level par for his fourth round, which began on Sunday evening.
World number three Garcia, who is chasing a win this week to overtake Phil Mickelson in the world rankings, reeled off three straight birdies to reach the turn two under par and alongside Wilson on 12 under par - a shot clear of the chasing pack.
After beginning his round on the third green this morning, overnight leader Wilson dropped a shot after missing a 12 foot par putt at the par four fifth.
He responded as he holed a two-foot birdie putt at the eighth and had a chance to take the lead outright with nine holes remaining but missed a similar birdie chance a hole later.
Defending champion Mickelson sits alongside first-round leader Henrik Stenson and former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy at ten under par with nine holes remaining of the tournament, which marks the start of the 2009 European Tour season and Race to Dubai.
Mickelson had earlier briefly moved onto 11 under after draining a 15 foot putt at the fourth, but handed the shot back three holes later after firing a wayward drive into the trees.
He had survived trouble off the tee at the 463-yard par four fifth - the second toughest hole of last year's tournament - as he showed his class to power out of the rough before converting a simple par from four feet following a well-judged approach.
