With a clutch of players nipping at his heels, overnight leader Johnson surrendered a one-stroke advantage with a bogey on the 17th to fall back into a tie with five others on 10-under par.

Having patiently moved to the head of the pack, the American now jostles for space at the top of the leaderboard with compatriots Bryce Molder, Paul Goydos and J.B. Holmes, along with Germany's Alex Cejka and Australian Matt Jones.

"I struggled a little bit today on the putting green," Johnson told reporters. "Other than that I'm hitting it very well. I'm very comfortable where I'm at." David Duval is one stroke behind after shooting a 68 at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

Johnson, who had three birdies, including one on the 13th to take the lead on 11-under, was pleased to have had only the one dropped shot.

"I got off to a kind of a rocky start, but made some good pars," he said. "Then I started hitting it better coming around the last few holes. I had a bunch of opportunities and made a couple of birdies." Johnson will play his third round at Spyglass Hill, considered the toughest of the three golf courses used in the rotation.

"I like Spy, fits my eye well," Johnson said. "I played a few rounds there, so I'm comfortable with all the holes." Goydos played his second round at Spyglass and had the best round of the day of the leaders, a seven-under 65.

It marked the American's first sub-70 round at the course in 14 appearances at the event.

Goydos, named an assistant Ryder Cup captain by Corey Pavin, has set a goal to play well enough to get on the team. A strong finish here would get him closer.

"Obviously you set goals," Goydos said. "You should have different levels of goal-setting throughout the year." Duval was also among the leaders for a brief period, reaching 10-under with a birdie on the sixteenth at Pebble Beach. He fell back to nine-under after a bogey on the par-three 17th.

"I'm hitting the ball mostly pretty good," said Duval, who has been battling back spasms. "Had to shake a few putts in on these greens and not got much trouble, so kind of the recipe you need to have out here." The former world number one has now notched together two sub-par rounds, only the fourth time in the last 24 events. On the three previous occasions, Duval struggled to take the form into the final two rounds, his highest finish a tie for 59th.

"I had been working myself to try to pay a little more attention to what I'm doing on the easier golf courses," Duval said. "I just think I hadn't paid enough attention to targets and picking out my spots."

Meanwhile, Briton Richard Bland carded a third round 66 to take the lead with six others on 11-under 205 going into Sunday's final round at the Avantha Masters.

Bland sunk four birdies in his closing seven holes following two in the opening three holes on Saturday after starting the third round six shots off the pace.

Barry Lane missed an opportunity to take an outright lead when he bogeyed on the last hole but the 49-year-old British veteran's one-under 71 helped him stay in the leaderboard.

Second round leader Chan Yih-shin of Taiwan finished a mixed day with a par 72 score but managed to stay with the leaders.

Rahil Gangjee fired a three-under 69 to keep the home interest alive as he moved into the joint lead.

Swede Fredrik Andersson Hed carded a 66 with eight birdies against two bogeys to also take the joint lead along with Japanese Tetsuji Hiratsuka and Australian Darren Beck.

"I have to say that it felt a bit strange that 66, because there were points when I felt that I wasn't playing too well," Bland said.

"It felt like my playing partners played better than I did but I was the one that made the score. They are probably at home cursing me at the moment but you have to take the luck when it comes your way.

"Sometimes you have to do it the ugly way. I'm not saying it was a really ugly day but usually 66s are a little bit prettier than that. But I managed to take advantage."