Poulter & Donald in title battle

Poulter collected three birdies during a solid third round display

R3 LEADERBOARD
(Jpn unless stated):
-10 I Poulter (GB)
-8 L Donald (GB)
-6 D Maruyama, G Fernandez-Castano (Sp)
Selected others:
-4 P Harrington (Ire)

European Ryder Cup stars Ian Poulter and Luke Donald will go head-to-head for the Dunlop Phoenix title in Japan after both shot 67s in the third round.

Poulter birdied the final hole to post a 10 under par total of 200 and open a two-shot lead over Donald.

Ireland's Padraig Harrington, the defending champion, struggled in breezy conditions and carded five bogeys in a a three over par 73.

He ended the day in joint seventh place, six strokes adrift of Poulter.

"The wind made it a bit more difficult for everybody today, but I played very, very solidly and it was nice to shoot a decent score," said Poulter, who rolled in four birdies and only dropped one shot during his round when he three-putted the 8th.

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He predicted a tough battle with Donald on the final day, after the latter birdied 14 and 15 and saved par with a well-judged 10-footer at the next to recover from a less impressive front nine.

"Luke's a good golfer. I'm sure he's going to try to make plenty of birdies and it's for me to play well and hold the pack off.

"I don't generally look at who's behind me on the leaderboard - I look at who is ahead of me, and in this position I don't have to look too far," Poulter added.

Donald, who has endured a run of poor results since July, looked more like his old self after coach Pete Cowen and brother Christian, who is caddying for him, suggested an adjustment to his swing earlier in the week.

"I'm trying to get my weight back on the right side and it seems to be working. I'm a little bit more fluid in my swing, a little more flowing and able to hit good shots," he explained.

"It's nice to get it back - the last two rounds I've felt very much in control, which I haven't done for a while."

Donald has not won a title since the Honda Classic in the USA in March 2006.