Surrey, England (SportsNetwork.com) - Byeong Hun An fired a 5-under 67 in Saturday's third round to join Francesco Molinari, who carded a 4-under 68, atop the leaderboard at the BMW PGA Championship.
Molinari, a three-time tour winner, held the outright lead at the end of the first and second rounds, and An came from one shot back to tie the Italian. The duo holds a 2-shot lead at 14-under-par 202 after 54 holes.
"It wasn't easy today. It's never easy when you lead a tournament from the start," Molinari admitted. "I'm happy with what I did today. There was a lot of guys doing some pretty special stuff out there so to still be out on top, even with co-leading, it's a good result."
Thongchai Jaidee grabbed the lead early on in his round and wound up shooting a 68 as well at Wentworth. Jaidee is two shots back and alone in third at 12- under 204.
Tommy Fleetwood used an albatross on the fourth hole to shoot a 7-under 65, vaulting him into fourth at minus-11. Miguel Angel Jimenez (68), the 2008 champion, made his second hole-in-one in as many weeks and is one shot further back at 10-under 206.
Beginning the day in second place and one shot back of Molinari, An tapped in for birdie at the first to tie for the lead. Molinari responded at the par-4 third with a 4-foot birdie, giving him the outright lead once again at minus-11.
However, on the next hole An drained his second gain at four to tie the lead once again.
Following a trio of pars from No. 4, Molinari nearly holed out for eagle on No. 7 and tapped in for his birdie. A 10-footer dropped for Molinari on the next hole, making it back-to-back birdies and moving him to minus-13.
In the meantime, An was three shots back due to his first bogey on seven. While Molinari made three more pars from nine, An went on a run with three birdies in four holes from 11.
Although Molinari made back-to-back gains on 12 and 13 to stay three ahead of An, the South Korean's birdie at 14 paired with Molinari's first bogey in 28 holes on the par-3 trimmed his lead to one.
Molinari struggled a bit down the stretch, but was able to make four straight pars to finish.
Although An fell two back with a bogey on 15, he finished strong with back-to- back birdies on the closing par-5s at 17 and 18, pulling him even with Molinari.
"I finished birdie-birdie and 18 is not easy where the flag is today," An said. "I putted well and hit it well, a good round of golf ... I probably hit it well in almost every event but didn't putt well, but this week I think the putting was key to get me into the co-lead going into the final round. Tomorrow hopefully I'll shoot the same."
Jaidee got off to a roaring start with birdies on one and two. A 20-foot eagle on No. 4 gave Jaidee the advantage at the time, but four straight pars followed by a bogey on nine dropped him out of the lead.
The 45-year-old from Thailand finished with a rather routine back nine, making birdies on 12 and 18 to go along with a bogey on 14.
Fleetwood not only holed out from 198 yards on the par-5 fourth for an albatross, he also drained an eagle from about 25 feet on No. 12. The Englishman also made four birdies and two bogeys in his round of 65.
NOTES: Molinari is seeking his first win since the 2012 Open de Espana ... An has never won on the European Tour ... Jimenez's hole-in-one was his 10th on the European Tour, breaking a tie with Colin Montgomerie for most in tour history ... Jimenez has three aces this season and two in as many weeks after he made one on No. 8 in the second round at last week's Open de Espana ... Fleetwood's 65 was the low round of the day.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.