Keita Nakajima continued his love affair with India as he opened up a two-shot lead ahead of the final round of the 2025 DP World India Championship.
India has been a happy hunting ground for the Japanese star, who won the 2024 Hero Indian Open at DLF Golf and Country Club before finishing second at the same event this year.
And he looked right at home once again at Delhi Golf Club on Saturday as he made seven birdies in a bogey-free 65 to reach 17 under par and rise to the top of the leaderboard.
But he has a world-class chasing pack just behind him, with reigning FedExCup Champion Tommy Fleetwood his nearest challenger on 15 under and Major Champion Shane Lowry another shot further back.
Jens Dantorp, Alex Fitzpatrick, Daniel Hillier and Brian Harman share fourth place on 13 under.
Nakajima started the day two shots behind halfway leader Fleetwood but closed the gap with a ten-foot birdie at the first.
The 25-year-old's putter remained hot on the front nine as he holed from 13 feet for a birdie on the fifth before picking up further shots on the sixth and eighth to turn in 32.
The highlight of Nakajima's round came on the par-three 12th as he drained his 40-foot birdie effort to grab a share of the lead.
Another long-range birdie putt dropped on the 13th to hand Nakajima the solo lead, and he made it three in a row at the 14th from nearly 20 feet to move two shots in front.
He safely parred his way home to head into the final round with a two-shot cushion.
Nakajima said: "It was a great day.
"I played with Shane Lowry and I love his swing tempo and his golf style. So I learned from Shane a lot.
"I copied his swing tempo on every shot, that's why I did great.
"I had two good tournaments in India already so I had confidence playing here. One more day, just keep going."
Halfway leader Fleetwood topped the leaderboard for large parts of the day on Saturday after three front-nine birdies saw him turn in 33.
But he struggled for momentum on the back nine as he parred the first seven holes before dropping his first shot of the day on the 17th.
He got the shot back on the 18th after a lucky bounce off a tree helped him get up and down for a closing birdie.
Fleetwood said: "Final group is always great. You've got to enjoy those moments. You don't know when they're going to come again. Looking forward to that.
"It's been a great tournament. Just hopefully go out and enjoy it and play well."
