Mickelson was forced to return to Sentosa Golf Club’s Serapong course early today to complete the final four holes of his third round after darkness ended play early yesterday evening and promptly bogeyed his first hole of the day, the 15th.

But birdies on the 17th and 18th gave the American a five-under-par 66, putting him in a four-way tie for third on six-under 207 with Ernie Els, Thomas Bjorn and Simon Dyson.

The quartet were four shots adrift of Chapchai, who powered to the top of the leaderboard after chipping in for eagle from 118 yards on the 11th late yesterday.

Resuming on the 13th this morning, he bogeyed his first hole of the day to drop to eight under but picked up birdies on the 16th and 18th as he returned a 66 to lead the way on 10-under 203.

Local favourite Lam Chih Bing missed a 15-footer for par with his first stroke of the day to drop to six under but a birdie at the 16th pushed the Singaporean back up to seven under and sole possession of second spot.

Els was tied with Dyson for the second-round lead but a bogey on the 12th this morning dropped him to four under.

However, the South African closed strongly with birdies at the 15th and 18th for a level par 71 as he returned to six under.

Dyson recovered from bogeying his first two holes of the day on the 12th and 13th to birdie the 15th as he also shot a 71.

Bjorn was briefly in second place after a birdie on the 14th but a bogey two holes later saw the Dane card a 68 as he joined Mickelson and Dyson in third place.

World number five Padraig Harrington remains in the hunt after firing a five-under 66 yesterday to join Jeev Milkha Singh (67) and Korea’s Charlie Wi (67) in a three-way tie for seventh on five under.