Ian Poulter is hoping that a change to his putting grip will help end his three year wait for a European Tour title at the BMW Masters.
The Englishman has 12 wins to his name on The European Tour but the last of those came in 2012 at the World Golf Championships - HSBC Champions, 900 miles south of this week's venue of Lake Malaren Golf Club.
Poulter has been in good form of late, going over par just twice in his last 18 rounds, but he has not been able to convert that consistency into a top ten finish - something he has just one of this season at the Masters Tournament.
The 39 year old takes a share of fourth place into the weekend in Shanghai and, after firing four consecutive birdies from the 13th in a second consecutive 68, he does not believe he is a long way from everything coming together.
"I played nicely, and it's continuing my form from last week when I hit lots of greens in regulation and felt that I was leaving a lot of chances out there," he said. "But I've started to take a few chances the last couple of days, and I've played some solid golf.
"So on reflection, apart from the three bogeys, and two of those were with wedges in my hand, I'm feeling pretty good about things.
I can't remember the last time I had four birdies in a row, but it was nice to see a few birdies going in - Ian Poulter
"The game has been there lately, so I know I'm playing well enough but I just haven't been holing putts. But for the last three rounds I've changed something with my putting, it's felt a lot better and obviously I'm making a few birdies now."
Ryder Cup team-mate Sergio Garcia had held the overnight lead after an opening 64 and looked set to hold onto it into the weekend as he made the turn in 33.
But in tougher, windier conditions than had been present on Thursday, he dropped three shots in two holes on the back nine before a birdie left him three shots behind leader Lucas Bjerregaard and one ahead of Poulter.
"It was definitely much tougher today, and I still felt like I left at least three or four shots out there," he said. "But it was obviously difficult - if you didn't hit the right shot at the right time, you could pay the price and I definitely did a couple of times.
"I made a really nice par on the 17th and a great four on the last, which is playing very difficult. So I'm not too upset, but I would have loved it to be a little bit better.
"Obviously the ball was going a bit shorter today with it as cold as it was, and it was quite breezy. So a lot of holes were playing tough throughout the day."
Thongchai Jaidee was alongside Garcia at eight under and the Porsche European Open champion echoed the sentiments of many in the field, with the wind making the course a very different test to the opening round.
"I've played solid the last two days," he said. "I hit 17 greens today, the only miss was on the last hole, where I made bogey.
"I hit some very good iron shots and also some good tee shots, plus my putting was solid, especially on the back nine. So it was a very good day, especially because the course was playing very tough today."
