Jyoti Randhawa lost his lead but stayed in touch with the leaders after the third round even as all four Indians moved inside the top-20 to indicate the strength of the Indian challenge at the star-studded HSBC Champions golf tournament in Shanghai.
Randhawa, who led in both the first and second rounds, had a great start with birdies on first two holes, but then began faltering after dropping a double bogey on the fifth at the Sheshan Country Club.
His day's work of even par 72 saw him finish at 10-under 206 and two shy of the lead held by two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen (67), who played consistent golf for his three-under 69 to move into sole lead at 12-under 204. Goosen had five birdies and two bogeys.
Tiger Woods, playing in the lead group with Randhawa and Goosen, also struggled during the day with one double bogey, four bogeys and three birdies and an eagle during his round of one-over 73 that pegged him at seven-under 209 and five off the leader.
Woods is now tied fifth with Paul Casey (68) who made a big move from overnight 23rd. Also tied for fifth is Francesco Molinari (69) at seven-under 209.
Jeev Milkha Singh made a small upward move from tied 10th to tied eighth with his one-under 71 and six-under 210, that also included a double bogey.
Shiv Kapur ran into problems with his putting and shot a 74 that saw him slip to tied 17th at four-under 212 while Gaurav Ghei (71) moved from tied 29th to tied 19th at three-under 215.
Randhawa was one shot behind second placed Korea's Yang Yong-eun, who played a stunning four-under 32 on the back nine in his five-under 67 to climb to 11-under 205 and tied second. Yang had six birdies and one bogey.
The Indian seemed to be trying a bit too hard and at times lapsed into mistakes. Still, he did well to hang in there with an even par round that ensured he will play in the lead group with Goosen and Yang.
"I missed a few putts out there and made some mistakes too. There is one more round to go and I am only two behind, that's fine. I am not going to feel any pressure," Randhawa said.
"It was sure was an experience playing with Tiger Woods," he added.
The putter went cold once again for Kapur, who made just birdie through the day in his card of two-over 74 that saw him slip down to tied 17th in the leaderboard after being tied eighth overnight.
Kapur had just one bogey and eight pars on his front nine and then two bogeys and just one birdie on the second nine on a frustrating day.
Ghei had a good start with a birdie on the second but bogeys on fifth, sixth and eighth saw him slide to two-over for the first half of the round. He recovered very well on the back stretch with back-to-back birdies on tenth and 11th and a third on 14th and had no bogeys to finish the day at one-under 71.
He improved his position from tied 29th to 19th and gave himself a shot at a good finish in the season's first European Tour event.
Jeev made one costly error and that resulted in a double bogey on par-3 sixth hole during his round of 71, which otherwise saw him play smartly. He had birdies on the second and eighth, and two more on the second nine on 14th and 18th. Apart from the double bogey, his only other blemish was a bogey on par-3 12th.
There was some fascinating golf at the top with the lead group providing enough thrills for the weekend crowd, which kept shouting 'in the hole' at every green.
Randhawa playing in the lead group had a great start. As Woods went wide on the left and took a bogey, the Indian star opened with a birdie and stretched his lead.
On the second, both Goosen and Randhawa birdied, but Woods went one better with an eagle as he recovered from his first hole misfortune.
Things were quiet for the next two holes, as all three parred them. On the fifth, Randhawa took a double-bogey six, while Goosen bogeyed and Woods parred, but the Indian stayed on top at 10-under.
Over the next few holes, Goosen moved ahead as he birdied the sixth and eighth. Goosen first caught up Randhawa at the sixth and the passed him on eighth as the Indian bogeyed the seventh and Goosen birdied the eighth to move two ahead. Randhawa missed a couple of birdie putts, too. Woods also double bogeyed the seventh and dropped to seven-under. Woods, however, chipped in from the edge on eighth and recovered a bit to join Randhawa at eight-under. The man to watch at this stage was Goosen at three-under for front nine on a difficult scoring day.
On the second nine, Goosen dropped a shot on 10th, but birdied the 11th, as Randhawa birdied the 10th and bogeyed the 12th.
Woods had three straight birdies. Randhawa narrowed Goosen's lead to one with a birdie on 13th. Then the lead trio got a birdie each on 14th as Goosen stayed one clear.
Over the last four holes, Goosen had all pars, while Randhawa and Woods bogeyed the 17th. On the 18th, Woods went into the water off the tee and took a second successive bogey to drop to seven-under and five behind Goosen. Randhawa was 10-under.
As the lead group battled, Korea's Yang made a move with four birdies and no bogeys on back nine and moved to sole second at 11-under.
Michael Campbell had a bizarre round with 10 bogeys, five birdies and only three pars. After six bogeys in first seven holes, he had two straight birdies on eighth and ninth and then again had four bogeys in six holes, before closing with three birdies in a row on last three holes. His 77 saw him slip from tied third to 19th.
Padraig Harrington (73) closed with a triple bogey eight on par-5 18th and was tied eighth at 10-under 210.
Leading scores after round three:
204: Retief Goosen 68-67-69
205: Yang Yong-Eun 66-72-67
206: Jyoti Randhawa 65-69-72
207: Marc Warren 66-71-70
209: Tiger Woods 72-64-73; Paul Casey 73-68-68; Francesco Malinari 72-68-69
210: Henrik Stenson 76-64-70; Jeev Milkha Singh 70-69-71; Padraig Harrington 67-70-73; Robert Karlsson 73-68-69; Luke Donald 70-69-71; John Bickerton 68-71-71
211: Bradley Dredge 71-70-70; K J Choi 68-72-71; Johan Edfors 68-74-69
212: Nick O'hern 72-69-71; Shiv Kapur 71-67-74
213: Gaurav Ghei 72-70-71; Michael Campbell 66-70-77; Jim Furyk 73-66-74; Thaworn Wiratchant 75-67-71.
