Shane Lowry is just three shots off the lead at the DP World India Championship in Delhi after a closing birdie saw the Offaly man finish moving day in third spot on 14-under-par.
Lowry carded a second successive 69, bookending his round with birdies, with three more birdies coming on six, eight and 15.
The 38-year-old also registered bogeys on the par-four 10th and 16th holes as he bids to end a long wait for an individual tournament success.
The Ryder Cup star has won just once on the DP World Tour or PGA Tour since his memorable Open victory in 2019, taking the spoils at the 2022 BMW PGA Championship.
Lowry rued a loss of momentum as he reflected on his round, telling Sky Sports: "I started to hit a few very loose shots, made a few silly mistakes. So, I'm disappointed with my back nine.
"I'd played great on the front nine. I was really in control of my game and how things were going, made a great par save on nine and then missed a short putt on 10.
"It all kinda snowballed, spiralled from there.
"I did my best to get it back on track and it was nice to birdie the last, but I made a few really silly errors, mental errors."
Rory McIlroy went one better than Lowry on the penultimate day of action, with a round of 68 moving the world number two up to a share of 15th place on 10-under-par.
McIlroy recorded five birdies and a solitary bogey, with three of those birdies coming on the last six holes of his round.
"I finished the round off pretty well again," the Masters champion said afterwards. "Made a couple of birdies coming in.
"I felt like I missed a lot of putts today. I gave myself a lot of chances and felt like I squandered a few.
"I should probably be a few shots better than I am, but another solid day and hopefully a low one tomorrow and post a score and at least give the guys up ahead something to think about."
Halfway leader Tommy Fleetwood dropped to second on the leaderboard after carding a 69, with Keita Nakajima's superb 65 moving the Japanese star to the summit on 17-under.
Fleetwood benefited from a lucky break off a tree lining Delhi Golf Club to finish with a birdie and sit two off the lead.
The Ryder Cup winner had just carded his first bogey in 37 holes after three-putting the short 17th from 35 feet when he pulled his approach to the par-five last.
His ball looked in danger of being lost in the thick vegetation only for it to clatter a branch deep in the trees and rebound close to the front fringe from where he almost holed a chip for eagle.
Afterwards he lamented his play on the greens.
"It was a shame because my pace was pretty rubbish all day but I felt I'd held out so well," said the Southport golfer, who is looking for his first win on the DP World Tour since January 2024, having made his PGA Tour breakthrough in August's Tour Championship.
"I'm not going to be negative about it, I know I've got to do a bit of work on it but I've done so much good so far."
