Rafa Cabrera Bello saw his lead cut to two shots midway through the third round of the UBS Hong Kong Open after closing the front nine with three bogeys in four holes.
The Spaniard entered the weekend at Hong Kong Golf Club with a three-shot advantage and extended that to five twice on the front nine but dropped shots on the sixth, seventh and ninth gave the chasing pack some hope.
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood was at eight under alongside Australian Sam Brazel, with clubhouse leader David Howell, fellow Englishman Danny Willett, Australian duo Andrew Dodt and Jason Scrivener, American David Lipsky and South African Justin Walters a shot further back.
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 also 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 but that would not last for long. The leader put his tee-shot on the par three fifth close and he was 13 under.
Walters was putting beautifully and he rolled in another on the sixth to join the group five back but he gave the shot back on the eighth.
An untidy third shot on the sixth from the leader left him an awkward 12-footer, resulting in a second bogey of the day, and a short missed putt on the next made it back-to-back bogeys for the first time this week.
He put his second shot on the ninth over the back of the green and when he failed to get up-and down, he was ten under.
Howell made the big move of the day, equalling the course record with a 63 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.
Scrivener was having a rollercoaster first 13 holes, making a hat-trick of birdies from the second, a double-bogey on the eighth and an eagle on the tenth.
Lipsky also had an eagle on the 15th to go with a double-bogey, four birdies and a bogey.
Dodt made four birdies and a bogey in his first 14 holes.
Edoardo Molinari was on course to equal the course 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.
Paul Dunne and Thongchai Jaidee were also six under.
