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Killarney - Australia's Richard Green goes into the final round of the Irish Open in a three-way tie with English duo David Howell and Simon Dyson at the top of the leaderboard.
Green, ranked 82nd in the world, shot a four-under par 67 to move to 11-under for the tournament and that was enough to draw level with Howell and Dyson at the close of Saturday's third round.
The 40-year-old left-hander is chasing his fourth career title and his first since last year's Portugal Masters and he looks in good enough form to lift the trophy.
Green, who finished 16th at the recent British Open, had three birdies on the front nine and then finished strongly with two more birdies on the last four holes after dropping a shot at the 12th.
However, he faces stiff competition from Howell, who carded an impressive seven-under par round of 64.
Green said: "I have a bit of a reputation of firing it up in the last round, so hopefully it happens tomorrow (Sunday)."
Howell showed tremendous composure as he ignored the heavy rain and strong winds to make five birdies in six holes on the back nine.
The 36-year-old reached ninth in the world after he beat Tiger Woods head-to-head in China and then had a runaway victory in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in 2006.
But after winning a second Ryder Cup cap later that season his career went into freefall and he is now ranked 282nd.
"I'm flying now. I must be one of the hottest players in the world," he said.
"I've not been in the best of form, but there were no nerves and I think I was inspired by the atmosphere. The crowds were amazing."
Dyson also looks strong and he recorded a 67 thanks to four birdies in the front nine to follow his second round of 65.
Scotland's Stephen Gallacher matched that score to move into fourth place, two shots behind, but halfway leader Marcel Siem double-bogeyed the 18th for a 73 and was joint fifth with defending champion Ross Fisher and Dane Soren Hansen.
Meanwhile, US Open champion Rory McIlroy looks to have slipped out of contention after carding a 72, his worst round of the tournament, which left him only three-under for the tournament.
McIlroy's challenge suffered a serious blow when he double-bogeyed the opening hole.
The 377-yard first hole runs alongside Lough Leane, and after his tee shot finished on the beach in amongst stones, McIlroy advanced his ball only about 20 yards.
His third only just made it onto the front of the green and from there he three-putted for a six.
That poor start seemed to shake McIlroy's confidence. He dropped another shot on the short third and was never able to recover.
McIlroy said: "It was not a great start but one over is not too bad considering how I played at the start."
Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell, who turned 32nd on Saturday, is unlikely to enjoy a memorable birthday weekend as he finished with a 72, leaving him level with McIlroy on three under par.
2010 US Open winner McDowell started with a birdie putt of nearly 20 feet to reach five-under, but he three-putted for a double-bogey five two holes later.
Irish Open third round scores on the par-71 course at Killarney on Saturday:
202 David Howell (Britain) 69 69 64
Richard Green (Australia) 67 68 67
Simon Dyson (Britain) 70 65 67 204 Stephen Gallacher (Britain) 71 66 67 205 Ross Fisher (Britain) 67 68 70
Soren Hansen (Denmark) 67 66 72
Marcel Siem (Germany) 66 66 73 206 Alexandre Kaleka (France) 65 75 66
John Parry (Britain) 68 71 67
Mark Brown (New Zealand) 71 67 68
Barry Lane (Britain) 70 67 69
Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 70 66 70
Carlos Del Moral (Spain) 69 67 70
Raphael Jacquelin (France) 67 68 71
Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 69 65 72 207 Jaco Van Zyl (South Africa) 70 70 67
Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark) 69 69 69
Bernd Wiesberger (Austria) 67 69 71
Michael Hoey (Britain) 69 67 71
Paul Cutler (Britain) 69 67 71
Jeev Milkha Singh (India) 63 70 74 208 Florian Fritsch (Germany) 71 69 68
Markus Brier (Austria) 70 68 70 209 Rafael Echenique (Argentina) 70 71 68
Rhys Davies (Britain) 72 68 69
Marcus Fraser (Australia) 72 68 69
Simon Thornton (Ireland) 68 72 69
Matt Haines (Britain) 69 69 71
Felipe Aguilar (Chile) 68 70 71
Gary Boyd (Britain) 73 64 72
Oliver Wilson (Britain) 69 66 74 210 Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 71 69 70
Shiv Kapur (India) 71 69 70
Graeme McDowell (Britain) 72 66 72
Rory McIlroy (Britain) 70 68 72
Lorenzo Gagli (Italy) 68 69 73
Christian Nilsson (Sweden) 66 70 74 211 David Drysdale (Britain) 71 70 70
Estanislao Goya (Argentina) 71 70 70
Keith Horne (South Africa) 70 71 70
David Dixon (Britain) 70 69 72
Anthony Wall (Britain) 70 68 73
Simon Wakefield (Britain) 69 66 76 212 Richard Bland (Britain) 70 69 73
James Morrison (Britain) 71 68 73
Romain Wattel (France) 69 69 74 213 Robert Coles (Britain) 71 70 72
Joel Sjoeholm (Sweden) 69 72 72
Oliver Fisher (Britain) 68 73 72
Christian Cevaer (France) 70 69 74
Colm Moriarty (Ireland) 67 72 74
Simon Khan (Britain) 70 69 74
Jamie Donaldson (Britain) 70 68 75
Richie Ramsay (Britain) 68 69 76
David Horsey (Britain) 68 68 77
Damien McGrane (Ireland) 69 67 77 214 George Murray (Britain) 71 70 73
Kenneth Ferrie (Britain) 72 69 73
Mark Tullo (Chile) 75 65 74
Oscar Floren (Sweden) 68 72 74
Alejandro Canizares (Spain) 67 73 74 215 John Kelly (Ireland) 73 68 74
Peter Whiteford (Britain) 70 71 74
Mark Foster (Britain) 70 69 76
Niklas Lemke (Sweden) 67 69 79 216 Robert Dinwiddie (Britain) 70 71 75
Niclas Fasth (Sweden) 69 70 77 218 Steve Webster (Britain) 67 74 77
Joost Luiten (Netherlands) 72 69 77
Lloyd Saltman (Britain) 67 74 77 219 Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 71 70 78
