American golfer Nicholas Thompson, seeking his first US PGA title, fired a seven-under par 65 to share the lead after Saturday's third round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.
He and countryman Daniel Summerhays stood on 17-under 199 after 54 holes with fellow Americans Chad Campbell, Woody Austin, Kyle Reifers and Cameron Beckman sharing third on 201.
Thompson awoke early to finish the storm-interrupted second round on Saturday morning before playing the third in the afternoon.
"It was a long day but I got a nice little gap in between. I'm just scoring a little bit better and better."
Lightning returned to halt play as the final group reached the 18th green, with Summerhays having a 19-foot birdie putt to match Thompson for the lead.
After waiting nearly an hour for the chance, Summerhays returned and rolled in the putt for the joint lead.
The tournament allows players who did not qualify for the British Open in Scotland to compete for a crown while top players are at the year's third major.
Thompson opened with his lone bogey but ran off two runs of three birdies in a row, the first starting at the par-4 fourth and the second ending at the par-5 11th. He added birdies at the 14th and 18th.
Thompson, runner-up at the 2008 Ginn dur Mer Classic, is in contention on the same weekend young sister Lexi is in the final group in quest of a LPGA title in Ohio.
If Nicholas can win, the Thompsons would join Billy Kratzert and sister Cathy Gehring and siblings Jim Gallagher and Jackie Gallagher-Smith as the only brother-sister winners on the PGA and LPGA tours.
"Hopefully it's a great day for the Thompson family," he said. "Whatever happens, it's a great day for both of us to be in contention."
Austin, who played 30 holes on Saturday, went over the 18th green and needed two chips on his way to a bogey on the hole that has played the easiest this week.
"... To finish the way I did was very disappointing. It's going to be hard to get the taste out of my mouth for a while. A lot of guys are going to shoot low tomorrow and I didn't need to throw away two shots."
