Darren Clarke admits he is revelling in his position at the top of the BMW Asian Open leaderboard as the Northern Irishman heads into the final round chasing an overdue victory on the European Tour.
The 39-year-old's last success on the circuit came at the WGC-NEC Invitational in 2003 and after his well-documented personal difficulties off the course in 2006 he has only fleetingly come close to adding an 11th victory on the Tour since.
But Clarke has been in fine form at the Shanghai Pudong Golf Club, improving on each round's score and returned to the clubhouse on Saturday with a five-under-par 67 to go nine under overall.
It gives him a one-stroke advantage over Robert-Jan Derksen and while he could be forgiven for feeling nervous about his current position, Clarke is instead itching to get back out on the course.
"I am really looking forward to it," said the 2006 Ryder Cup star.
"It has been a while. I was in contention a couple of times at the start of the season but it has been a while since I led and I just hope I can continue doing what I am doing.
"I'll just go out tomorrow and play as well as I can and hopefully I'll be good enough, but if not I'll battle on next week."
Clarke is playing in China for the first time in his career but has been in fine fettle on the course with his putting having been particularly impressive.
And though he has improved upon his score in each of his three rounds so far he is refusing to make any predictions about the outcome on Sunday.
Clarke added: "When you come to a new course it takes you a few days to learn where you can and can't miss shots and where you can get away with things and that is part and parcel of tournament venues.
"Most of the places we go to I have been there before but this is new to me so I am learning the course a bit.
"That is not to say I will shoot a 65 tomorrow but I would like that.
"I was putting pretty good. I missed twice from three foot for birdies on two par-fives but overall I hid a lot of really good putts so I am pleased."
Also enjoying a good week in Shanghai is Robert Dinwiddie after the European Tour rookie carded a six-under-par 66 to move to seven-under-par overall.
The 25-year-old Briton shot an impressive eight birdies while his only blot on his scorecard was a double bogey on the par-four seventh.
Dinwiddie missed the cut at the Volvo China Open last week and he admitted his form over the last two weeks sums up the way he has played so far this season.
"That is how my year has been so far," he said. "Week to week I am just trying as hard as I can to play as well as I can. Some weeks it has not been going right and others have been better.
"There is not a lot of difference. Maybe I am putting better and giving myself more chances but I am just trying to hit every shot as well as I can."
Lin Wen-tang of Chinese Taipei is four strokes off the lead at five under-par overall after carding a three-under-par 69.
World number 13 Henrik Stenson finished his round level par after carding four birdies and two double bogeys and is even par overall while defending champion Raphael Jacquelin was back in the clubhouse at five over par overall after carding 74 on Saturday.
Collated third-round scores (Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):
207 Darren Clarke 71 69 67
208 Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 70 69 69
209 Robert Dinwiddie 70 73 66
211 Wen-Tang Lin (Tai) 71 71 69
213 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 75 69 69, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 67 74 72, Mu Hu (Chn) 73 69 71, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 74 72 67
214 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 76 70, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 71 75 68, Scott Hend (Aus) 69 74 71, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 72 70 72, David Gleeson (Aus) 73 73 68, Miles Tunnicliff 71 70 73
215 Rory McIlroy 73 73 69, Wen-chong Liang (Chn) 71 71 73, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 70 69 76, Mark Brown (Nzl) 75 67 73, Chris Rodgers 71 73 71, John Bickerton 71 75 69, Paul Broadhurst 71 73 71
216 Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 75 71 70, Oliver Wilson 68 74 74, Joost Luiten (Ned) 71 75 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 74 73 69, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 75 70, Peter Lawrie 72 74 70, Jose-Filipe Lima (Por) 70 74 72, Iain Steel (Mal) 71 74 71, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 68 76 72, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 70 73 73
217 Young-Woo Nam (Kor) 72 73 72, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 71 75 71, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 71 76 70, Greg Norman (Aus) 71 73 73, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 72 73 72, Sam Little 71 76 70, Adam Blyth (Aus) 74 70 73
218 Paul Lawrie 75 72 71, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 72 72 74, Jean-Francois Lucquin (Fra) 74 70 74, Simon Yates 74 73 71, Chao Li (Chn) 71 72 75, Barry Lane 74 71 73, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 73 74 71
219 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 71 75, Carl Suneson (Spa) 71 73 75, Ross Fisher 72 73 74, Marcus Both (Aus) 73 74 72, Richard Lee (Can) 70 75 74, David Frost (Rsa) 72 75 72
220 Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 75 72 73, Gary Murphy 74 73 73, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 71 75 74, Ross McGowan 71 74 75, Simon Wakefield 73 72 75
221 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 68 76 77, Julio Zapata (Arg) 73 72 76, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 73 74 74
222 Scott Barr (Aus) 72 74 76, Keith Horne (Rsa) 77 70 75
223 Peter Hedblom (Swe) 72 73 78
224 Phillip Price 73 73 78, Mong-nan Hsu (Tpe) 73 74 77
225 Richard Finch 72 75 78, Wook-Soon Kang (Kor) 74 72 79
