Ricardo Gouveia produced a brilliant burst of scoring around the turn as he fired a stunning 66 on Saturday to head into the final round of the BMW Australian PGA Championship tied alongside home favourite Anthony Quayle and Spain's David Puig at the top of the leaderboard.
Portuguese star Gouveia had never before held the 54-hole lead on the DP World Tour but carded seven birdies and two bogeys during the weather-affected third round to give himself a great chance to secure his maiden title at this level on Sunday.
Australian Quayle, who secured his playing privileges via the Challenger PGA Tour of Australasia earlier this year, made five birdies and a bogey, taking advantage of the par-three 17th for the third round in a row to join the lead on 13 under par.
Also on that number was Puig after he carded six birdies in a flawless 65 at Royal Queensland Golf Club.
Past champion Min Woo Lee and halfway leader Kazuma Kobori were one shot behind the leaders in a tie for fourth.
After the opening day was halted by lightning, seven groups were unable to complete their second rounds on Friday and had to return to the course to finish off early on Saturday morning.
And there was more disruption to come in round three as inclement weather suspended play for more than two hours from 11.05.
Gouveia started brightly, finding birdies on the second and fourth before taking advantage of the par-five ninth to turn in 33.
He made it back-to-back birdies at the tenth, and joined Lee at the summit with a four-footer on the 12th.
The 34-year-old hit the front on his own after birdieing the 13th from six feet to reach 14 under but gave the shot straight back on the next.
A bounce-back birdie at the 15th saw Gouveia regain the outright lead but he bogeyed the 16th to sit in a three-way tie at the top with 18 holes to go.
He said: "It's going to be a very good opportunity tomorrow.
"I've never been in the lead on a Saturday going into Sunday, so it's going to be a new experience. I'm happy and looking forward to the day.
"I was very consistent off the tee and then I kept hitting greens, which is really important on this course, and holed a few putts, which was great."
Quayle turned in 33 after picking up shots at the second, third and sixth.
He bounced back from a bogey on the 14th with birdies at the 15th and 17th to join the lead.
Quayle said: "I'm really excited for tomorrow. It's been a long week and I'm just excited to get into it.
"It was a little bit more of a grind today. The first six holes, it felt like business as usual this week and then after the rain delay I just wasn't quite hitting it my best, was leaking a lot of tee-shots right and I just felt like I was scrambling forever really.
"After what felt like a million pars I made a bogey on the 14th and it kind of just kicked me into gear a little bit.
"I felt like I played really nicely over the last four holes."
Puig got off to a flying start, birdieing the first and second before making further gains at the seventh, ninth, 13th and 15th.
He said: "I just kind of played steady. You can't miss second shots here to the wrong side and the pins are really tucked in and then you've got to play to the fat part of the green.
"And I think I did that pretty good and that made me have a bogey-free round, first of all, and not have much stress besides two or three holes in the middle."
