Thorbjorn Olesen and Akshay Bhatia tied at the top of congested 3M Open leaderboard

The pair are locked on 18 after three rounds at TPC Twin Cities, but with nine players within three shots of the lead, it's all to play for on championship Sunday in Blaine.

Olesen aced the 206-yard par three eighth and shot a 4-under 67 to stay in contention.

"It was a back pin, it just felt like I couldn't get there with a 7, so we went for a soft 6-iron," recounted the Dane.

"Obviously, took the slope perfectly, a big bonus to see it go in. It's been a long time since I've had one."

A hole-in-one is nice, but Olespn's eyes are on the main prize of his maiden PGA Tour victory.

"It's obviously different and it's a big opportunity," said the eight-time DP World Tour winner.

"I'm not going to lie, there's going to be a lot of pressure, but I felt like in my career I've dealt pretty well with pressure. Obviously, the wins on the DP World Tour, but Ryder Cups, also."

Meanwhile, Bhatia rolled in no less than nine birdies and a bogey for a sizzling eight under 63 to rocket up the leaderboard after his pair of 66s.

"I chipped in twice, made a lot of putts," said the American.

"A lot of putts lipped in, which was really nice to see. All in all, just a pretty solid round. Felt like I did a pretty good job of playing out of the rough today. I didn't hit it particularly great off the tee, but thankfully greens are soft enough to where you can kind of do that. I'm just trying to play solid golf and hopefully the cards fall my way tomorrow."