He has already had a chance to dip his toe in the pressure he will face today as he completes his final round, and it is probably a good thing that he has a couple of holes under his belt to give him a foretaste of what lies ahead. He has already seen how the very best deal with that kind of pressure.

Having given Wilson a two-shot margin by dropping a shot on the first hole of the final round after a visit to a bunker, Geoff Ogilvy promptly reduced the gap back to one with a birdie on the second, even after pulling that tee shot into the rough. Mickelson provided a more spectacular lesson. Having parred the first, he decided to take on the green from his position in the light rough on the second. It was a long shot to a tight flag on the lake side of the green, and Mickelson put a little too much into it, carving a wood into the water to the left. But he then showed the stuff of which champions are made by greening his penalty drop from some distance, and holing a fifteen-footer for par.

One has a feeling that both Ogilvy and Mickelson were trying to send a message to Wilson on that second hole – "You're playing with the real big boys now..." It may have been a blessing in disguise for Wilson that he was in the bunker with his drive, as it removed any temptation to go for the green in two. Instead he played a good long sand shot and a wedge to the middle of the green, from where he putted dead for a secure par.

Sergio Garcia shows the remarkable rotation that gives him his extraordinary length [China.org.cn]

The day had started with Garcia and Stenson on -10, Wilson and McDowell a shot behind on –9, and Mickelson and Ogilvie on –8. Playing several groups ahead of the others, McDowell's challenge quickly fell away, as a string of five bogeys and no birdies dropped him back to -4. Stenson briefly took the lead with a birdie on 2, but immediately swapped places with Garcia on 3, where Stenson's bogey and Garcia's birdie made for a two-shot swing. Ogilvy parred everything through till 11, when a sudden flurry of five birdies and two bogeys ultimately lifted him to -11, where he held the clubhouse lead. Mickelson was similarly erratic on the front nine, making a hat-trick of birdies from 2 through 4, and then another birdie and two bogeys. By 14 he had reached ten-under, but like Stenson he could make no further headway from there.

While all of this was going on, Wilson was scoring steadily, if not always playing so. He birdied on 2 to move to –10, and then parred everything through until the par 3 12th, where he sank a huge, snaking putt for another birdie. At this stage he was joint leader with Garcia on eleven-under, but a loose fairway iron cost him a dropped shot on 13. He took the stroke back again with steady play for a birdie on 14, and once more shared the lead with Garcia. On the short 16th he played another loose one, this time pulling his utility club off the tee into the rough, but on this occasion he played a magnificent recovery wedge to a couple of feet, which he holed. That took him to -12, and sole possession of a lead that he has never since surrendered.

Oliver Wilson sinks the birdie on 16 that finally put him into the lead [China.org.cn]

Elsewhere, there were not the sparks of the first two days. Low score of the day was a modest 67 from Charl Schwarzel that saw him climb the leaderboard, but not far enough to be in contention. Chinese hopes still rest on Liang Wenchong. He dropped a stroke to move from -5 to -4, but was still in joint 14th at the end of the third round. By the end of play, however, while still on -4, he had fallen back to joint 20th.