Golf:Luke Donald shook off a poor start to the day to come through and finish with a one-shot advantage over Jim Furyk going into the final-round of The Heritage at Hilton Head.
Donald, aiming for the number one world ranking, began the day a stroke clear of the pack, but things quickly turned sour with a double-bogey on the second.
He birdied the fifth and seventh to recover, but needed another salvage job - a birdie on the ninth - to rescue par at the turn after a bogey on the eighth.
That put his hopes of claiming the top ranking in doubt.
The 33-year-old is currently ranked number three but, with rankings leader Martin Kaymer having a week off and Lee Westwood playing in a tournament worth fewer ranking points in Indonesia, a win in south Carolina would move Donald to the head of the standings.
But things went much more smoothly on the way back, and a birdie on the 16th was enough to put him back in front.
"Obviously I got off to a pretty slow start, making 7 on 2," said Donald.
"I'm giving up two or three shots on that hole to the field.
"It wasn't really a terrible shot, I just pulled it slightly, it got a kick and if that ball stays a couple of yards inbounds it's an easy up-and-down for birdie.
"I dug deep. Made some good birdies. It was tougher today, the wind was more of a factor, the greens are getting firmer and crustier. And I was pleased with bringing it back after that slow start."
Defending champion Furyk suffered two bogeys - the second on the 18th - on the back nine to surrender the lead he had claimed from Donald earlier in the day.
Furyk birdied the third and fifth to join the Englishman at the top of the leaderboard. But although a bogey on the 12th was followed by birdies on the 13th and 15th, the final bogey of the day allowed Donald to nip back in front at 11 under for the tournament.
Brendon de Jonge enjoyed the best round of the day, signing for a 66 that moves him up to a tie for third alongside Scott Verplank, who went round in 67.
One further shot behind in a tie for fifth are Ricky Barnes, Tommy Gainey and Jason Day.
That marks a major disappointment for the Australian Day, who spent the first part of his round battling Donald and Furyk at the top of the leaderboard, but then hit three straight bogeys on the 10th, 11th and 12th, eventually settling for a round of 71.
Ireland's Graeme McDowell shot a three-over-par to drop nine shots off the pace.
Collated third-round scores (USA unless stated, Irish in bold, par 71):
202Luke Donald (Eng) 67 65 70
203Jim Furyk 68 66 69
204Brendon De Jonge 67 71 66, Scott Verplank 67 70 67
205Ricky Barnes 71 67 67, Jason Day (Aus) 69 65 71, Tommy Gainey 71 67 67
206Ben Crane 69 66 71, Pat Perez 71 67 68, Jason Dufner 67 71 68, Chris Couch 68 68 70
207Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 70 68 69, Chad Campbell 65 69 73, Tim Herron 65 71 71, Garrett Willis 64 69 74, Mark Wilson 66 70 71
208Spencer Levin 68 69 71, Jeff Klauk 69 71 68, Michael Bradley 71 71 66, Camilo Villegas (Col) 66 68 74, Brandt Snedeker 69 67 72, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 70 66 72, Matt Bettencourt 65 73 70
209Brian Gay 66 73 70, J.P. Hayes 70 67 72, Matt Kuchar 68 72 69, Blake Adams 67 71 71, Kevin Streelman 73 69 67, Bill Haas 70 70 69, Paul Goydos 72 67 70, Tim Petrovic 68 72 69, Boo Weekley 69 70 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 71 69 69, D.J. Trahan 69 67 73, Stephen Ames (Can) 72 68 69
210Brian Davis (Eng) 68 74 68, Chris DiMarco 73 69 68, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 74 65 71, Webb Simpson 69 69 72, Ben Martin 67 72 71, Brendan Steele 70 68 72, Arjun Atwal (Ind) 65 73 72, Ian Poulter (Eng) 69 66 75, Ryuji Imada (Jpn) 70 71 69
211Chris Riley 67 71 73, Graeme McDowell 68 69 74, Billy Mayfair 70 68 73, Steve Flesch 72 70 69, David Hearn (Can) 72 70 69, James Driscoll 70 70 71, Kevin Na 70 68 73, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 69 71 71, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 69 71 71
212Jerry Kelly 68 71 73, Nathan Green (Aus) 69 69 74, Heath Slocum 71 68 73, Daniel Summerhays 73 66 73, Alex Cejka (Ger) 69 73 70
213Stewart Cink 72 68 73, Ben Curtis 71 71 71, Josh Teater 68 74 71
214Kris Blanks 71 69 74, Robert Garrigus 68 70 76, Bio Kim (Kor) 71 69 74, Troy Merritt 71 70 73, Steve Elkington (Aus) 68 72 74, Jason Bohn 73 69 72
215Charlie Wi (Kor) 72 70 73, Lee Janzen 70 71 74
216John Daly 70 72 74, Chad Collins 71 70 75
217Will MacKenzie 71 69 77, Kent Jones 73 68 76
