European Tour Members Ian Poulter, Luke Donald and Gonzalo Fernadez-Castaño occupy the top three positions at the Japan Golf Tour’s Dunlop Phoenix Tournament.
Poulter leads the way after a third round of three under par 67 took him to ten under 200 for the week, with Donald two strokes back following his own 67. Fernadez-Castaño posted a 69 to lie four behind Poulter going into the final round at the Phoenix Seagaia Resort.
Defending champion Padraig Harrington, who shared the halfway lead with Poulter, fell six strokes off the pace with a third round 73 that included five bogeys.
"The wind made it a bit more difficult for everybody today but I played very, very solidly and it was nice to shoot a decent score," said Poulter.
"I'm leading, playing well, and if I go out and play well tomorrow we'll have a good result. Luke's a good golfer. I'm sure he's going to try to make plenty of birdies and it's for me to play well and hold the pack off.
"I don't generally look at who's behind me on the leaderboard. I look at who is ahead of me, and in this position I don't have to look too far in front. I just need to play the way I'm playing. The last thing you want to be doing is thinking 'what if I get beaten'."
