Luke Donald, Mark Calcavecchia and Matt Jones tied on six under par to lead the Honda Classic by one stroke from Jose Coceres and Brian Davis after the third round in Florida.

Ben Crane and Dudley Hart sit a further shot adrift at four under with Ernie Els headlining a group of five at three under.

Englishman Donald opened with a six-under 64 on Thursday, and after shipping a second-round 74, rebounded with a bogey-free 66.

The 2006 champion recorded his first birdie at the fifth and added one more on the front nine before carding back-to-back birdies at 16 and 17.

"I was a little bit disappointed yesterday. I had one really bad hole on 14. It was nice to bounce back and play very solid today," Donald said.

"There's a lot of danger out there. There's some very daunting shots, a lot of scary shots with a lot of water around. So you have to really stand up there and hit good, solid shots. It was nice to come back and have a good chance tomorrow."

After a birdie-bogey start to his round, Calcavecchia added back-to-back birdies but picked up just one more shot over his next 14 holes to card a three-under-par 67.
 
"The front nine, it was definitely the easier nine of the two," he said. "I was kind of looking to make some birdies early.

"I think a lot of guys got off to pretty good starts, but this course will eventually wear you down if you miss a few shots here or there. You'll make a bogey or double pretty quick.

"I just made a whole bunch of pars and really wasn't losing any ground making pars. That's pretty much what happened the last 14 holes, all pars and one birdie."

Jones began the third round in second place but had two bogeys over his first six holes to drop off the pace.

He birdied the 12th, and after dropping a shot two holes later, finished with a birdie at the last to move into a share of the overnight lead after a one-over-par 71.

"It was nice finishing with a birdie," said Jones. "I had missed a few putts all day, but to finish off with a birdie and be tied for the lead going into tomorrow is good."

England's Davis, who began the day with a one-shot lead, remained in contention despite stumbling to a three-over 73.