Argentinian Jorge Berendt took full advantage of dry early conditions at the par-69 Hong Kong Golf Club to card a flawless seven-under-par 62 and join Dodd and Swede Henrik Nystrom, who posted a 63, at the top of the leaderboard.
Thai veteran Boonchu Ruangkit, 46, matched Berendt’s round of 62 to join a group of five players, including Zimbabwean veteran Tony Johnstone, Swede Frederik Jacobson, Scotland’s Gary Orr and Indian Arjun Singh a stroke further back.
Six-time major winner Nick Faldo hit a three-under-par 66 to lurk four strokes back.
Dodd peppered the flagsticks with approach shots on the front nine, rolling in birdies at the third, sixth, seventh and ninth holes to offset a lone bogey on the fourth hole.
He recovered after dropping a shot on the 10th hole with successive birdies on the 11th and 12th holes to lead by two at 14-under-par, but then stumbled with bogeys at two of the last three holes.
A nervy Dodd, who had never lead a European Tour event after three rounds, hooked his three-wood tee shot on the 18th hole into trees to the left.
And his first recovery attempt moved the ball only five yards when he jammed his club into the ground.
After chipping onto the fairway with his next, Dodd found the middle of the green with his fourth shot and bravely rolled in a 15-foot putt to retain a share of the lead.
Argentinian Berendt is the only one of the leading trio with a European Tour victory to his name, taking the Cannes Open last year.
Thai star Boonchu, 46, started the day five strokes back at four-under par but hit five birdies in a blistering front-nine 29 to wipe out the deficit.
Two more birdies, on the 14th hole and the final hole, briefly gave the Bangkok resident the joint lead but the leading trio all finished a stroke ahead.
Leading third round scores:
195 - Jorge Berendt (Arg) 68-65-62, Henrik Nystrom (Swe) 64-68-63, Stephen Dodd (Wal) 64-65-66
196 - Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 65-69-62, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 68-65-63, Gary Orr (Sco) 67-66-63, Arjun Singh (Ind) 65-66-65, Tony Johnstone (Zim) 64-65-67
197 - Jamie Spence (Eng) 68-65-64, Craig Kamps (RSA) 68-63-66, Soren Hansen (Den) 66-65-66
198 - Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 65-70-63, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 69-65-64, Matthew Blackey (Eng) 66-67-65, Henrik Bjornstad (Nor) 67-62-69, Klas Eriksson (Swe) 65-64-69, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 67-62-69,
199 - Nick Faldo (Eng) 68-65-66, Kang Wook-soon (Kor) 67-64-68, Thomas Levet (Fra) 65-65-69, Marten Orlander (Swe) 65-64-70
200 - Johan Rystrom (Swe) 69-66-65, Barry Lane (Eng) 66-67-67, Zhang Lian-wei (Chn) 67-66-67, Dean Robertson (Sco) 65-68-67, Thomas Bjorn (Den) 68-64-68, Rick Gibson (Can) 67-65-68, Andrew Marshall (Eng) 68-64-68, Maarten Lafeber (Hol) 67-64-69
COOLUM (Australia): A tropical thunderstorm forced the early abandonment of the Australian PGA Championship Saturday with almost half the field still to complete the third round.
Tournament officials cancelled play for the day because of the threat of lightning strikes after the Coolum course in Queensland was hit by a severe electrical storm.
Leading third round scores (Australia unless stated):
(Play was suspended early because of thunderstorms. Just 38 of the 62 starters completed their rounds.)
210 Nathan Gatehouse 70 72 68
211 Rod Pampling 73 71 67, Peter O’Malley 72 70 69
212 Jason King 71 74 67, David Diaz 74 70 68, Anthony Painter 71 72 69, Michael Long (New Zealand) 69 74 69, Scott Gardiner 70 72 70
213 Matthew Ecob 71 74 68, Steve Collins 69 74 70
214 Brett Rumford 70 75 69, Jon Riley 72 72 70, Andre Stolz 67 77 70, Phil Tataurangi (New Zealand) 74 69 71, Brad Kennedy 70 72 72
215 Nathan Green 73 71 71, Scott Hend 71 72 72, Aaron Byrnes 69 73 73
SUN CITY (South Africa): Twice winner Ernie Els continued his dominance of the Sun City Golf Challenge with a businesslike third round to extend his lead at the Gary Player Country Club on Saturday.
The South African returned a flawless three-under-par 69 to reach 12 under for the tournament, four shots clear of Britain’s Colin Montgomerie.
Third round scores
204 Ernie Els 70 65 69
208 Colin Montgomerie 74 69 65, Chris DiMarco 68 68 72
210 Retief Goosen 68 72 70, Darren Clarke 72 67 71
211 Padraig Harrington 72 70 69, Michael Campbell 71 71 69
212 Jim Furyk 69 71 72 —AFP/Reuters