The 26-year-old picked up birdies on the third and fourth and holed from 20 feet to save par on the fifth after a poor chip, but was unable to repeat the feat on the eighth to card only his third bogey of the week.

Another misjudged chip on the ninth also led to a bogey and dropped McIlroy to 15 under par, four shots off the lead shared by Van Zyl and Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat.

Aphibarnrat, who has won twice on the European Tour this season, made a blistering start with four straight birdies and bounced back from a bogey on the seventh with another on the ninth.

Remarkably, the final group of Aphibarnrat, Van Zyl and Dubuisson all birdied the ninth from inside six feet, Van Zyl having also picked up shots on the first, fifth and sixth before a bogey on the eighth.

Dubuisson, whose sole win to date came in the inaugural staging of this event in 2013, had carded three birdies in the first four holes, only to run up a double bogey on the fifth and also drop a shot on the seventh. The Frenchman’s birdie on the ninth lifted him to 17 under, two off the lead.

Aphibarnrat moved into the outright lead with a birdie on the 10th, where Dubuisson scrambled an amazing par by pitching through a gap in the trees after taking a penalty drop from a bush.

McIlroy smashed a massive drive down the par-five 11th but pushed his second into a greenside bunker and failed to get up and down after seeing playing partner Byeong Hun An hole out from short of the green.

An, who won the BMW PGA Championship in May, had looked out of contention after a double bogey on the ninth, but bounced back with a birdie on the 10th and the eagle on 11 took him to within two of the lead.