Two time former champion Miguel Angel Jimenez climbed into contention on the third morning of the UBS Hong Kong Open as the Spaniard reeled off a blitz of birdies.
After starting his third round with a bogey, Jimenez stormed back with a run of four consecutive birdies.
Three further gains on the back nine at Hong Kong Golf Club moved the flamboyant Spaniard onto nine under par alongside overnight leaders Gregory Bourdy, Liang Wen-chong, Charl Schwartzel and Robert-Jan Derksen, who had yet to begin their third circuits.
Rory McIlroy, Simon Dyson, Australian Marcus Both, Francesco Molinari and Peter Lawrie improved to eight under, with Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil and South Africa’s Rory Sabbatini still in the clubhouse.
Like Jimenez, Both had three holes of his third round to play, while Molinari, McIlroy and Lawrie were two under with gains at the start of their third rounds.
Dyson had improved to nine under par overall with four birdies over his opening five holes, but slipped back with a first bogey off the day.
With former Open champion Ben Curtis being forced to withdraw with back injury, only two players who advanced to the weekend were over par overall, one of those being first round leader Udorn Duangdecha, with 42 players within four shots off the lead.
