Lucas Bjerregaard turned in 33 to open up a one-shot lead on day three of the Portugal Masters at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course.
The Dane looked close to making his European Tour breakthrough in 2015 with four top fives in his last nine events but is still seeking that first European Tour win on the Algarve.
He is currently battling for his card at 114th in the Race to Dubai Rankings presented by Rolex but after starting the week 66-65, he maintained that momentum on moving day to get to 13 under.
Scot Marc Warren and China's Ashun Wu were then at 12 under, a shot clear of 2012 champion Shane Lowry, Belgian Thomas Detry and England's Eddie Pepperell.
Warren has made just two of his last 12 cuts with a best finish in 2017 of tied 14th at the Made In Denmark but he has three European Tour wins so is comfortable when in the mix on the weekend.
A stunning approach to five feet for an opening birdie was evidence of that and he was in a share of the lead, with a seven-footer on the second getting him to 13 under.
Lowry made back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth and Nacho Elvira did the same at the fourth and fifth after also birdieing the second, with that duo moving into the group at 11 under.
Bjerregaard hit a brilliant approach to the third to get within one but after a poor tee-shot, Warren hit a fantastic approach to the fourth for a third birdie of the day and a two-shot advantage.
Lowry got up and down from the sand on the par five fifth to get into a share of second but Bjerregaard soon jumped out of that group thanks to a 15-foot right-to-lefter on the fifth.
The 26 year old then found himself in the lead as Warren found the water on the seventh and while he parred with his second ball, that was a double-bogey.
Lowry bogeyed the ninth and that dropped him into the expanding group at 11 under, with Wu birdieing the tenth and 11th, Detry holing a monster on the ninth and Pepperell turning in 33.
Overnight leader Nino Bertasio had started with six pars but when he bogeyed the seventh - which was playing the toughest hole on the course - he was also two shots off the lead.
Wu then made a third birdie in a row with a huge putt on the 12th and when Pepperell tapped in a short one on the tenth, they were just a shot off the lead.
Pepperell had birdied the 11th on days one and two but he gave his birdie on the tenth straight back to once again find himself at 11 under.
Bertasio dropped a shot on the ninth and Elvira did the same on the 12th to join George Coetzee, Chris Paisley and Graeme Storm alongside clubhouse leaders Nicolas Colsaerts, Phachara Khongwatmai and Sebastian Soderberg at ten under.
