Pat Perez produced a strong finish to his third round as he carded a 67 to remain top of the Bob Hope Classic leaderboard on 25 under par.
After a consistent start on the back nine, Perez sank five birdies on the front nine in his five-under effort to hold a two-shot lead over fellow American Steve Stricker.
Two strokes in front of Briny Baird at the start of the day, Perez managed only one birdie over his first nine holes in stark contrast to his previous 36 holes, when he posted rounds of 61 and 63.
However, the 32-year-old soon rediscovered his touch and made birdies at the first, second, fourth and fifth holes.
After just his second bogey of the tournament at the par-four fifth hole, Perez responded with his 25th birdie of the tournament on the next.
"I hit it great all day and it was a little better for me on the front," Perez said. "But I wasn't really comfortable on the back."
Despite his impressive form so far, Perez refused to contemplate a winning score as he closes in on a first PGA Tour title.
"No, I won't think about that at any point," Perez said.
"I'm just going to try to go as low as I can and make a lot of putts. That's all I'm going to do.
"I'm not going to worry about a number. If I play great and I come up short, I come up short. But I'm not going to worry about a number or anything the other guys are doing, I can only do what I can control. So I'm just taking it one hole at a time and we'll go from there."
Stricker, who was eight shots behind Perez at the start of his third round, played himself into contention with a bogey-free round of 61 to tie Charlie Wi for the best score of the day.
Searching for his first win since 2007, Stricker - like Perez - has recorded just one bogey over his first 54 holes.
"I just gave myself a lot of opportunities today," Stricker said.
"I kept the ball in play, hit some close shots, made a couple of lengthy putts and everything that you need to do in an 11-under round, I guess I did.
"I guess the biggest thing was I gave myself a lot of opportunities and didn't make any mistakes."
Vaughan Taylor (64) is three shots back while David Berganio (68), Chris Stroud (67), Richard Johnson (67) and Jason Dufner (67) are all four shots off the lead.
Taylor, in particular, was thrilled with his performance.
"It still feels like a 64," Taylor said.
"It's fun. It's good playing. I felt like I could have shot a few better but at the same time, I think it was a great round."
Baird, who had briefly taken the lead, stumbled towards the end of his round before eventually signing for a 70. The American is in a group of six golfers who are five strokes off the lead.
The 90-hole event is being played over four courses and features a first prize of US 918,000.
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