CHONBURI, Thailand: Sergio Garcia finished with back-to-back birdies to shoot a second straight 7-under 65 Saturday and seize a four-shot lead after the third round of the Thailand Golf Championship.

Garcia had eight birdies overall to go with a lone bogey on the fourth to move to an 18-under total of 198 at the Asian Tour event.

"I was able to hit some really nice shots and then was able to roll two or three really good putts in and it was nice to be able to finish birdie, birdie on this difficult finishing stretch," Garcia said.

Henrik Stenson also shot a 65 to sit tied for second with Anirban Lahiri of India (67). Justin Rose, who shared the overnight lead with Garcia, only managed a 70 to fall five shots back.

Garcia raised some eyebrows by playing with his girlfriend, Katharina Boehm, as his caddie this week, but the partnership seems to be working just fine on the golf course. The Spaniard, though, did joke that Boehm was holding him back.

"I think if she will not be on the bag it would probably be like 25 under," he said. "No, seriously, it's great to have her around, forget about having her on the bag this week. Just a very positive person, a lot of good energy, that's what I love about her, and it's great to be able to go through this with her. I think the experience, not only for me but for her, I'm sure is interesting and a lot of memories."

Stenson, the hottest player in golf over the past few months, had a bogey-free round to put himself in contention. Having become the first player to win both the FedEx Cup and the European money title this year, Stenson certainly looks like the biggest threat to Garcia's chances of winning a first title of 2013.

"That was a good day, definitely was the best I played this week," Stenson said. "Made some good birdies and some really good saves to keep the momentum going. ... I saw Sergio, he finished with two birdies to pull away four ahead again, so it's going to take some golf to catch him tomorrow. I know he's desperate to get his hands on a trophy, he's played well this year but has not managed to win anything. I'll try to challenge and see what happens."

Team China sets up gripping final day

In Shenzhen, China, Team China beat an Asia-Pacific Select side in the foursomes matches of the Dongfeng Nissan Cup on Saturday, going into Sunday's singles round just a point behind as they look for their first win.

Asia-Pacific lead 6 1/2 - 5 1/2 after clinching Friday's fourball matches 4 1/2 - 1 1/2 and going down 2 - 4 in Saturday's foursome clashes at the CTS Tycoon Club in Shenzhen.

The OneAsia Dongfeng Nissan Cup pits 12 Asia-Pacific players against a China national team over three days in a Ryder Cup style tournament.

The visitors won the inaugural 2011 tournament and retained the title last year.

Veterans Zhang Lianwei and Huang Wenyi, paired again after their opening fourball win, set the pace from the start on Saturday by hammering Scott Laycock and Michael Long 5 and 4.

China's gamble on changing all their other pairings -- the visitors kept their combinations the same -- paid off handsomely.

Eric Mina and Choo Tze-huang, the only Asia-Pacific pair to lose on Friday, looked to be making amends by turning four up against Yang Guanming and Yan Bin in the second match.

But the pair from Szechuan turned as hot as their home province's famed spicy food, and they won five-in-a-row from the 13th to triumph 2 & 1.

Southeast Asian pairing Thaworn Wiratchant and Rory Hie looked comfortable for most of the day after starting birdie-birdie against Huang Mingjie and Wu Kangchun before easing to a 3 & 2 victory.

Su Dong and 16-year-old amateur Dou Zecheng didn't have to do much in their 3 & 1 win against Choi Ho-Sung and Kim Dae-Sub as the Korean pair posted seven bogeys or worse before shaking hands.

Match five proved the most exciting of the day with Wu Ashun and Wang Minghao going toe-to-toe with the Japanese pair of Kazuhiro Yamashita and Masimichi Uehira all the way to the 18th before winning one up, with the lead changing hands four times.