Rafa Cabrera Bello extended his lead to four shots in the early stages of his third round at the UBS Hong Kong Open.
The Spaniard entered the weekend at Hong Kong Golf Club with a three-shot advantage and a bogey-birdie-birdie start on Saturday moved him to 12 under, four shots ahead of England's Tommy Fleetwood.
David Howell signed for a 63 before the leaders had even teed off and he was then at seven under alongside Masters Tournament champion Danny Willett, South African Justin Walters and Australia's Sam Brazel.
Cabrera Bello opened with just his second bogey of the week after sending his tee-shot right and having to chip out but the lead stayed at three as Brazel also made a bogey after going left off the tee into a bunker.
Fleetwood gave himself a look at eagle on the third but birdied it for the third consecutive round to get to seven under.
That was soon four back, though, as Cabrera Bello recovered from that opening stumble by putting his tee-shot on the second close and rolling home the birdie putt.
The group at seven under was expanding and Willett took advantage of the third to make a birdie and Walters made a gain on the fourth to also sit four off the lead.
Cabrera Bello put his second shot in the bunker on the par five third but got up and down brilliantly to make a second birdie of the day and briefly extend his lead to five shots.
Fleetwood then cut it back to four as he holed a slippery putt on the fifth to take second place on his own.
Howell made the big move of the day, equalling the course record after starting right on the cut line.
He birdied the first and third and while he dropped a shot on the seventh, back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth - the latter courtesy of a holed bunker shot - got him to the turn in 31.
The Englishman then drove the par four tenth to set up an eagle from 12 feet and further birdies on the 12th and 13th were followed by a bogey on the 15th and a birdie on the last.
"Very nice," he said. "I just snuck through to make the cut yesterday and battled well, birdied two of the last four five holes to make it through and that's always the first thing in professional golf, you've got to be here for the weekend.
"Someone always makes a move on Saturday morning and it was glorious out there today and sure enough things went my way. I think luck was on my side today.
"Obviously I played some pretty nice golf as well and delighted to finish with a birdie to make most of the round.
"I'm in position for a fine finish. Having not played in six weeks, it would be a nice way to start the season with a top five, top ten finish."
Edoardo Molinari was also on course for to equal the record with birdies on the sixth, tenth, 12th, 13th, 15th, 16th and 17th but he bogeyed the last for a 64 and a six under total.
Soomin Lee also got to six under with a 64 after a stunning back nine that contained birdies on the tenth, 12th, 16th and 18th and an eagle on the par four 15th.
David Lipsky, Thongchai Jaidee and Carlos Pigem were also at six under.
