Perthshire, Scotland (My Sportsbook) - Peter Hedblom shot a four-under 68 in difficult conditions Saturday to move atop the leaderboard after 54 holes of the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.

Hedblom finished three rounds at eight-under 208 at the Centenary Course at the Gleneagles Hotel and is one shot ahead of Paul Lawrie, the first- and second-round leader.

Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, only managed a one-over 73 on Saturday and fell to second at minus-seven.

Steven O'Hara fired a six-under 66 and moved into a tie for third place with Gregory Bourdy (71), Jamie Donaldson (70) and Soren Hansen (71). The group is knotted at six-under 210.

Hedblom began the third round four strokes behind Lawrie and broke into red figures for the first time on Saturday with a birdie at the par-five second hole.

He made his move up the leaderboard before the turn, making birdies at the eighth and ninth holes to join Lawrie in first at seven-under par. When Hedblom birdied No. 11, he was alone in the lead at minus-eight.

Lawrie struggled with bogeys at five and 10 and fell behind Hedblom, but Hedblom dropped back into a tie for lead when he missed a three-footer at 13.

After a Lawrie birdie at 11, he rattled off back-to-back birdies at 13 and 14 and once his nine-footer at 14 fell, he was two in front of Hedblom with four to play.

It was those holes that cost Lawrie first place.

He bogeyed the 15th and 16th holes to fall to seven-under par. Hedblom kicked in a short birdie putt at the par-five closing hole to move into the lead himself.

Lawrie had seven feet for birdie to join Hedblom atop the leaderboard at the 18th, but missed. That par gave Hedblom a well-earned place above the rest of the field.

"Today was a really good round. I hit tee shots in the fairway, I hit a lot of good iron shots and rolled in some putts," said Hedblom. "I'm holing putts. That's the key."

Saturday marked the fifth time Hedblom shared the third-round lead on the European Tour -- and second time in as many weeks. Last week, Hedblom held the 54-hole edge, but eventually fell into a playoff and lost the KLM Open to Simon Dyson.

"I wasn't very happy after the day," said Hedblom. "That was my fourth playoff loss in six years. You don't want to do that. There was a lot of pressure on me."

He rebounded on Saturday and now has a chance at his third European Tour victory and his first in almost two years.

Lawrie is in the hunt for his sixth title on tour and first since 2002. He did the best he could in the trying conditions, especially at 17 when he saved par from a bunker thanks to a 15-foot putt.

"Overall, I thought it was a very tough day, toughest day of the week so far, for me," admitted Lawrie. "The wind was blowing extremely hard. And it was changing direction quite a bit out there, which made club selection quite difficult. We got quite a few wrong today, because it just kept dropping and changing so that was hard."

Defending champion Gregory Havret gave himself a chance for a successful defense with a five-under 67 on Saturday. He is tied for seventh with Richard Bland (67), Michael Jonzon (72), Shiv Kapur (72) and Maarten Lafeber (73) at five-under 211.