Haotong Li and Eugenio Chacarra could not be separated as they held a one-shot lead after a roller-coaster moving day at the Volvo China Open.
The pair, who were playing together in the final group during the third round, shared the halfway advantage with Tapio Pulkkanen, but neither player could push ahead as the chasing pack closed in on a logjammed leaderboard.
Li – the 2016 champion – rolled in four birdies and dropped two shots in his 69, with Chacarra carding three gains and a bogey to match his rival at 12 under and stay at arm’s length ahead of Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.
“Definitely not my best today,” Li admitted. “Glad I still have a chance to compete on Sunday.
“So far, so good. I’m really enjoying the support of the crowd and I know everyone is routing for me so hopefully I can deliver something special tomorrow.
“It was a strange day. It felt that everything was going my way until No 10 when I went in the wrong spot and tried to be cute, and end up losing momentum a little bit. I just need to play better tomorrow.
“I’ve already mentally prepared for tomorrow, so hopefully tomorrow it will be just like Sunday [when I won] in Qatar. I just play my game. If I play my best golf, no one else can catch me.”
Pulkkanen set a course record during the first round and made the perfect start with a hat-trick of birdies to surge ahead at 13 under, with Li birdieing the 2nd to sit two adrift.
Chacarra joined his playing partner by picking up a shot at the 4th, however, it was soon a three-way tie at the top as Pulkkanen bogeyed the 5th and 6th to slip back to 11 under.
The Finn returned to the summit by replying with a birdie at the 7th, the same hole which Li birdied to sit at 12 under alongside Pulkkanen.
It was soon a two-shot swing as the home favourite picked up his third shot of the day at the 8th just as Pulkkanen bogeyed the 9th.
That was eradicated when Pulkkanen birdied the 10th and Li bogeyed for the first time in 29 holes at the 10th.
The 29-year-old Chinese reached 13 under with a birdie at the 11th before Pulkkanen’s challenge dropped faded with a double-bogey at the hole ahead.
Li bogeyed the 12th, as did Chacarra, to hold a one-shot advantage, but the closest rival was now Yannik Paul, who had rolled in his sixth birdie at the 13th to climb up to 11 under.
Chacarra joined his playing partner at the top at 12 under with gains at the 13th and 14th before the pair parred their way to last.
Both players found the thick rough with their tee shot at the last, but both salvaged par to keep their lead by one.
“It was a grind, my thumb is not 100% and the start was tough,” Chacarra said. “It was a grind all day, we knew it was going to be like that, I started the day not knowing if I was going to finish so I’m glad I pushed through it. It is way better than it was after the round yesterday.
“Hopefully tomorrow it will be more back to normal and have the chance to chase the lead on the last couple of holes.”
Aphibarnrat, who has not won on the DP World Tour since 2018, produced a flawless round of 65 to sit in third at 11 under and almost joined the leaders had his birdie putt at the last had not lipped out.
Paul laid up on the last, only to put his third shot into the water hazard to finish with a bogey and sit at 10 under. The German is alongside China’s Zecheng Dou and Pulkkanen, who signed an entertaining level par which contained six birdies, a double-bogey and four dropped shots.
Jordan Smith was in seventh at nine under, with Chinese pair Ashun Wu and Zhengkai Bai a shot further back in a tie for eighth.
Casey Jarvis was the leading South African on six under (T14) after carding 69, with Shaun Norris’ 66 leaving him on four under (T21).
– Edited report from DP World Tour website
Photo: Lintao Zhang/Getty Images
