Kurt Kitayama in sight of maiden PGA Tour title at Arnold Palmer Invitational

The 30-year-old Californian recovered from an early double bogey to eke out an even round of 72 on Saturday - enough to keep him on top of the leaderboard at nine under.

"Just proud of the way I fought," he said after the round, as per pgatour.com.

Kitayama leads by one from Norway's Viktor Hovland and American Scottie Scheffler. With eight players within four strokes of the lead, including many big names, Scheffler is expecting final-round fireworks.

"Should be another fun one," quipped the Masters champion.

"That's what's exciting about our new schedule. I think we're going to have a lot more of this stuff. I'm sure Viktor's looking to beat me this year and I'm looking to do the same. There's a lot of talented guys on the leaderboard, though. I'm not going to be too focused on anybody else other than myself going into tomorrow."

Also in the hunt at Bay Hill on Sunday will be England's Tyrrell Hatton, who sits outright third on seven under. The 31-year-old jumped 29 spots on Saturday courtesy of a bogey-free round of six-under 66.

Meanwhile, Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy picked up four birdies without dropping a shot in the third round to keep in touch with the top of the leaderboard on six under.

"I think any time you can go bogey-free on the weekend at Bay Hill you're doing something right," said McIlroy.

"I got myself right into the tournament, into the thick of things for tomorrow."