Tyrrell Hatton will go in search of a hat-trick of Rolex Series wins when he takes a three shot lead into the final round of the 2020 BMW PGA Championship.
The Englishman was a victor in the inaugural season of the prestige collection of events as he claimed the Italian Open title in 2017 and he added another Rolex Series trophy to his CV as he prevailed from a six man play-off under the floodlights at last season's Turkish Airlines Open.
A third round 69 on day three at Wentworth Golf Club moved him to 14 under and into pole position ahead of Dane Joachim B. Hansen and Frenchman Victor Perez.
Home favourites Tommy Fleetwood and David Horsey carded rounds of 67 to sit four shots off the lead alongside Open Champion Shane Lowry and Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed.
Hatton is back on home soil after a long spell in the United States and has spoken this week of his desire to win an event that he used to attend as a fan with his father when he was five years old.
With two Alfred Dunhill Links Championships to go with his Rolex Series triumphs, Hatton knows how to get over the line in the big events, but he was refusing to get carried away at European Tour HQ.
"It would be obviously very special," he said of lifting the trophy on Sunday. "I've said earlier in the week it's been a goal of mine to hopefully win this tournament.
"You can't win it on Saturday and there are still 18 holes to go. I have to try and not get too far ahead of myself.
"I can take confidence from the fact that I've won on Tour before and I've just got to go out there and try and control myself, hopefully play well like I have been the past three days and just see what happens."
Lowry hit the front as co overnight leader Matthew Fitzpatrick bogeyed the third and as the Englishman slipped back, it developed into a battle between Lowry and Hatton.
A two putt birdie on the fourth moved Lowry two ahead but when he three putted the ninth for a double bogey, Hatton was in a share.
The 28-year-old had bogeyed the third but got up and down from the side off the fourth to get back to 11 under and share the lead at the turn.
The par fives on the back nine often decide the fate of this trophy and Hatton played the 12th beautifully, leaving himself 20 feet for an eagle that catapulted him into a two shot lead.
Lowry birdied the same hole as he got up and down by holing a left to righter but Hatton made a 14 footer on the next to sit two ahead once more.
His lead was trimmed as he found the penalty area on the 15th and dropped a shot but a poor second on the 16th from Lowry meant he led by two again.
Hatton got up and down from sand on the last to edge three ahead and a closing bogey on the last from Lowry meant the Irishman had been replaced in second by the fast finishing Hansen and Perez.
Hansen had picked up shots on the fourth and 12th but gave them back on the ninth and 13th before he hit an excellent approach into the 16th and made a two putt birdie on the last after a beautiful second to sign for a 70.
Perez's second into the last was even more impressive and he made an eagle from inside ten feet to also card a 70 after birdies on the second, fourth and 12th and dropped shots on the first, sixth and ninth.
Fleetwood produced a remarkable show of iron play and could have birdied his first three holes but had to wait for the par five fourth.
Another gain came at the sixth but he gave the shot back on the ninth before he got his putter working and began to reward his approach play, picking up further shots on the 12th, 15th, 16th and 17th.
Reed took advantage of the fourth and hit an excellent second into the eighth but he looked like he would be a long way back before he broke a run of nine pars by finding the final green in two and making his eagle from 18 feet for the only bogey free round of the day.
Horsey turned in level par as he followed birdies on the fourth and sixth with dropped shots but he came home in 32 with gains on the tenth, 13th, 15th, 16th and last.
Englishmen Eddie Pepperell and Ian Poulter were at nine under, a shot clear of Fitzpatrick, Spaniard Pablo Larrazábal - who carded the lowest round of the day with a 66 - and Japan's Masahiro Kawamura.
Jordan Smith made the second hole-in-one of the week - and the first at the second hole in Rolex Series history - when he holed a nine iron from 139 yards en route to finishing the day at six under.
