Denmark's Søren Kjeldsen and Thorbjørn Olesen dropped a shot early in round three of the ISPS HANDA World Cup of Golf but maintained their three-shot lead at Kingston Heath Golf Club.
Play returned to foursomes on day three and with the wind continuing to blow in Melbourne, there was no chance of anyone repeating the Danes' stunning second-round 60, with birdies at a premium.
A bogey on the third dropped the leading duo to 11 under and the United States were one under after five holes to emerge as their nearest challengers.
Japan and Spain were then at seven under, a shot clear of China, Italy and Sweden.
Denmark's overnight lead was quickly extended to four shots as China's Li Haotong struggled on the first, putting his tee-shot in a bunker, failing to reach the green with a chip and then missing a short putt to surrender a double-bogey.
Olesen, meanwhile, saw good chances stay up on the first and second but China's poor start continued as they failed to get up and down on the second after Ashun Wu found sand off the tee on the par three.
The Danes then dropped their first shot in 25 holes on the third after Kjeldsen found sand with the second shot and the lead was back to three.
The United States three-putted the first but bounced back with a birdie on the second and when Jimmy Walker made another good putt on the fifth, they were the nearest challengers.
Spain had a single bogey on the fourth while Japan bounced back from a bogey on the fourth with birdies on the fifth and sixth.
Sweden were level par through six holes but the rest of the leading challengers were heading in the wrong direction as Italy bogeyed the first after going over the green, France double-bogeyed the second after finding two bunkers around the green and England double-bogeyed the third after a wild tee-shot from Andy Sullivan.
The only team making a big move were Canada who made three birdies in a row from the ninth after David Hearn had holed a bunker shot on the sixth but they were six shots off the lead after 13 holes.
India were also at five under with S Chikkarangappa holing from the fringe on the second and chipping in on the fifth but they dropped a shot on the next.
France, England and the level-par Dutch completed the group at five under.
