Five golfers tiedat the top at Volvo Masters

Apart from the Thai pair, Singaporean Lam Chih Bing and the Australian duo of Marcus Both and David Gleeson are perched at nine-under par 207, turning the atmosphere competitive from start to finish.

But among the "fab five", Taipei-based Gleeson deserved the accolades for an astonishing round of nine-under par 63 at the challenging 7,094 layout. He matched the course record set by Jim Rutledge of Canada in the 1997 Asian Classic.

"It was the luckiest round of the season for me. I holed one full shot and lipped out two shots on the front nine," said the 30-year-old Gleeson, whose third-round scorecard was embellished with two eagles on holes No 4 and 8.

"At the start of the day I didn't think I would have a chance tomorrow. I was thinking seven-under would give me an outside chance. Now that I've done the hard part and I've got to get another good round tomorrow," added Gleeson, who was even par on Friday.

Chawalit could have ended up as the lone leader had he not bogeyed the final hole where he had to get out of the bunker. He ended the round with a 69. "I didn't drive well but my iron game, chipping and putting was okay. I had squandered the lead in the last four or five tournaments but this time I hope to turn things around," said Chawalit, chasing his first title since the 2007 Hana Bank in Vietnam.

Also carrying the Kingdom's hopes was Chapchai, who holed three birdies against a bogey for a 70. The 25-year-old from Phitsanulok will have to hang tough on the final day after that painful experience from last month's Barclays Singapore Open. As the day-three leader, he endured a seven-over on Sunday to sign off at seventh and let the top prize money of over Bt22 million slip away.

"That was a good lesson. I must not let myself under pressure tomorrow and stick to my game plan by focusing on par-four and par-five holes," said the big-driving Thai, also on a quest for his season's first trophy.

Friday's leader Lam, who was ahead of the field by two shots, had only himself to blame as he swapped three birdies against three bogeys for an even par yesterday.

"I was cruising really nice and on the eighth hole, I found myself in the middle of a divot and made bogey and that took the steam out of my game," said the Singaporean, who is yet to capitalise on his chance after having been in contention in the last three weeks.

Aussie Both had been neck-and-neck with Chawalit at 10-under each as they played along side each other, and held the lead together after 17 holes. As unfortunate as his opponent was, he imitated the Thai with a bogey on the last hole to finish two-under 70.

"I made a couple mistakes. I wasted three shots over the last couple of holes from just around the greens. But I live to fight another day tomorrow."

A stroke behind at lone sixth was Filipino Antonio Lascuna with an aggregate eight-under par 208. Rick Kulacz of Australia took the seventh spot with 209 while Lin Wen-tang of Taiwan and Adam Blyth of Australia were tied at eighth with 210.

Defending champion Prayad Marksaeng hit an even par for a joint 10th along with 2005 winner Shiv Kapur of India, Britain's Simon Griffiths, South Korean Mo Joong-kyung, Australian Terry Pilkadaris and Mitchell Brown.