Vienna, Austria (My Sportsbook) - Benn Barham posted a four-under 67 on Saturday and is three strokes clear after three rounds of the Austrian Golf Open.

Barham finished 54 holes at 17-under 196, two shots off the tournament record, and has a fairly comfortable lead over Soren Hansen, who fired a 65 on Saturday at Fontana Golf Club.

Richard Green, the 2007 champion, managed a two-under 69 and is alone in third at minus-13, which is one shot better than Louis Oosthuizen, who also fired a 65 in the third round.

Barham, who held a two-shot advantage at the start of round three, flew out of the gate on Saturday. At the opening hole, Barham rolled in a long birdie putt, then parred his next five holes.

The Englishman was comfortably atop the leaderboard until the par-three seventh. Barham knocked his tee ball into the water, then, after a drop, chunked his third to the fringe. He chipped close and tapped in for a double- bogey that dropped him into a share of first with Green and Oosthuizen.

Barham wasted little time in getting back into first place. At the ninth, he drained another long birdie putt, this time from 30 feet, and regained sole possession of the lead.

Barham ran home a four-footer for birdie at No. 10 and Green kept pace with a birdie at the same hole. Green snaked in an 18-foot birdie putt at 12 to tie the two in the first, but Barham moved ahead by one when he nearly spun in his approach for an eagle at 13. He tapped in for birdie and that jump started Barham to his three-shot cushion.

Green bogeyed the 14th to fall two back and Barham appeared to be in trouble at the hole as well. He missed the green with his approach, but chipped to three feet and converted the par putt.

At the par-five 15th, Barham knocked his third to four feet. He holed the birdie putt for a three-shot lead, then barely escaped trouble off the tee at No. 16. Barham's drive stayed dry and he made par, then added another par at 17.

Hansen got within two thanks to a birdie at the closing hole. Barham missed the putting surface with his second at the last, but had seven feet for birdie and a three-shot margin.

He sank the birdie putt and took the third-round lead in his bid not only for his first European Tour title, but also a wire-to-wire victory.

"I'm playing as good as I have all year," acknowledged Barham, who has the highest-ranked player in the field in second place behind him. "I have to play the course. If I continue to do that, hopefully I won't have to worry about them."

This is the second time Barham has held at least a piece of the lead with one round to go. At the 2006 Italian Open, he shared the third-round lead with Francesco Molinari, but a final-round 75 left Barham in a tie for 16th place at the end of the championship.

He now feels ready to finally hoist a trophy.

"When you start playing the European Tour, the dream is to win," said Barham. "It'll be fantastic whether it's this week or whether it's a future week, I'm really looking forward to it."

Richard Bland (65) and Brett Rumford (68) are knotted in fifth place at 10- under 203.

Three-time winner Markus Brier (69), Rafael Cabrera-Bello (66), Scott Drummond (72), David Drysdale (67), Pelle Edberg (71), Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (69), David Howell (66) and Pablo Martin (70) share seventh place at minus-nine.