Ash, England (My Sportsbook) - Overnight co-leader Jeev Milkha Singh only managed a one-under 71 on Saturday and was joined atop the leaderboard by Christian Cevaer after three rounds of the European Open.

Cevaer, who posted a 70 on Saturday, and Singh finished 54 holes at nine-under 207 and the pair is three strokes clear at The London Golf Club.

World No. 16 Rory McIlroy (68), Alvaro Quiros (69) and Chris Wood (68) are tied for third place at minus-six.

Wind gusted on Saturday and while several player broke par in round three, no one went terribly low.

Singh did not get off to the type of start one would expect from a leader. He bogeyed the first and fourth holes and needed a long par save at the third to avoid three dropped strokes in his first four holes.

Singh sank a four-foot birdie putt at the par-five fifth, a hole he's birdied every round this week. He bogeyed seven, but got the stroke back with a birdie at eight.

Things looked bleak for Singh immediately after the turn. He bogeyed 10 and 11 and fell to five-under par for the championship.

"I was missing a lot of putts and it was windy," said Singh. "I said 'just hang in there,'"

Singh elected to go at the green at the short par-four 13th. He made birdie there, then rattled off birdies at 14 and 15 to polish off three in a row. That jumped Singh into a share of the lead at eight-under par.

At the par-three 17th, Singh knocked his tee ball 10 feet short of the flag stick. He converted the birdie putt to momentarily move one ahead, until Cevaer matched him at 18.

"I had a shaky start, but I covered up with a good finish," said Singh. "If you lose your head, or lose patience, I think it's going to eat you up. I tried to stay patient and it came back to me."

Singh has three European Tour victories and this marked the third time on tour he's held at least a share of the third-round lead. He won once with that cushion and lost in a playoff once, but that experience might put him well ahead of his fellow co-leader.

Cevaer never held a 54-hole lead until Saturday.

He birdied the par-five fifth, but lost that stroke right away. For the second day in a row, Cevaer bogeyed the par-four sixth, but he missed some birdie chances around the turn.

The Frenchman parred five in a row, then knocked his second into a bunker at the par-five 12th. Cevaer blasted out to five feet and rolled in the birdie effort to reach eight-under par.

Cevaer, who won the 2004 Open de Espana, birdied the demanding closing hole, one of only two birdies at 18 in the entire third round, to earn his share of first.

"That's awesome," said Cevaer of his rare birdie at 18. "I've had a good feeling with my driving. I managed to strike a perfect drive. That's brilliant for me."

Marcus Fraser (72), Soren Hansen (67), Gary Orr (68) and Steve Webster (70) share sixth place at five-under 211. Jamie Donaldson (74), Jose Manuel Lara (74) and Richie Ramsay (68) are tied for 10th at minus-four.

Michael Lorenzo-Vera, who shared the overnight lead with Singh, struggled to a five-over 77 and fell into a group tied for 13th place at three-under-par 213.