After producing one of the rounds of his career on Thursday, Thomas Bjorn produced one of the greatest stretches of holes on Saturday to secure a dominant five shot lead over the field at Wentworth.
The 43-year-old Dane started the day in a tie for the lead alongside Shane Lowry, but would struggle mightily in the early stages of his third round. Making a double bogey on the difficult opening hole of the West Course, Bjorn would drop another shot on the fifth, which would see the former local resident fall three shots behind his playing partner.
However, the 15-time winner on the European Tour would recover with a birdie on the sixth, before he extraordinarily birdied six straight birdies from the 11th. This blistering run of form saw Bjorn establish himself firmly at the summit of the leaderboard, with a closing birdie on the 18th completing a remarkably turnaround, with a back-nine of 30 taking him five shots ahead of two-time winner Luke Donald.
"I'm starting to warm to this place," laughed Bjorn, whose only top-ten finish at Wentworth came 16 years ago. "I got off to a really rough start with a lot of loose swings early on but hit a really good shot on ten and started to feel more comfortable.”
On Thursday, as he posted a course record equalling round of 62, Bjorn would also complete the back-nine in 30, and admits to have taken some belief from that on Saturday: "I probably drew a little on what I did on Thursday on the back nine, putts started to drop and you get in the zone where things start to go your way.
"I was proud of the way I handled the round and proud of my determination and the way I stayed with my golf. It was a remarkable run of holes."
A run of holes, and three rounds, that positions Bjorn on the precipice of victory in the European Tour’s flagship event, with a Ryder Cup berth also potentially on the verge of being secured.
But he is experienced enough a campaigner to realise that the job is not complete just yet: "There are a couple of names on that leaderboard who can't be counted out.
"I have to play some good golf and be smart and aggressive when I can be and keep them at arms' length. If I get off to a bad start it's a wide open tournament."
One of the players looking to take advantage of any opening, is Luke Donald, who won this Championship in 2011 and 2012. With the redesigned Wentworth clearly a course that suits his eye, the 36-year-old Englishman would complete a blemish-free third round of 68 to stand alone in second, five shots back of Bjorn’s 15-under total.
"It was very important to make those birdies (on the 17th and 18th) because every time I looked at the leaderboard Thomas had made another one," Donald said. "I did not want him to get too far ahead of me and it was important to be in the last group tomorrow.
"Winning here in 2011 and getting to World Number One was a great feeling and with defending the following year I have so many great memories. To win here three times would be very good but I have a tough day ahead of me because Thomas is playing very good golf."
If Donald isn’t to be the obvious challenger, then it may be Shane Lowry, who is six back of the lead after a battling round of 73 on Saturday. The 27-year-old is in third on his own, with talented Dutchman Joost Luiten alongside two-time major champion Rory McIlroy in fourth.
The Northern Irishman, McIlroy, rebounded from a double bogey on the opening hole to shoot a third round of 69, at a venue which has rarely brought him much in the way of joy.
"I was a little disappointed I didn't make a birdie at the last but after the start I had, 69 is a good score,” McIlroy said.
With Bjorn seven shots ahead of him, the 25-year-old is well aware that something special is required if he is to have any chance of victory.
"I feel like a low round is in me but I don't know if it's going to be good enough. I need to go out and shoot something similar to what Thomas did on the opening day.
"I've had big leads and let them slip, and come from behind and won. There's a lot of ways to win. Eighteen holes of golf is still a long way to go and if the conditions are favourable, then you never know what can happen."
Anything can happen in the heat of a Sunday, particularly with such a talented chasing pack in pursuit. However, it is Thomas Bjorn’s to lose.