Bristol's Chris Wood, top amateur at The Open in July, carded a scintillating third-round 66 to put him back at the top of pack in the European Tour qualifying school stage one The Oxfordshire.
Wood jumped two shots clear of the 76 players who made the cut at two-over-par or better to move to 15 under.
Fellow Englishman Adam Frayne and Scottish amateur champion Callum Macaulay, who both had 70s, are his nearest challengers.
Only the leading 30 and ties at the end of Friday's fourth round will advance from this event and the other qualifiers at Golf de Moliets in France and Italy's Bogogno venue.
At The Oxfordshire, the projected cut-off figure after 72 holes is five-under-par and there are currently 34 players currently at that mark or better.
At Golf de Moliets, 81 players made the cut at three over or better and at Bogogno a total of 84 players advanced with 54-hole totals of five over or better.
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