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Newport - American Peter Uihlein set his sights on his second European Tour title of the season after moving to the top of the leaderboard at the Wales Open on Saturday.
Uihlein carded a third-round 67 at Celtic Manor to finish seven under par and claim a three-shot lead over French pair Thomas Levet and Gregory Bourdy heading into Sunday's final round.
The former world number one amateur won the Madeira Islands Open in May and has had three other top-10 finishes this season, while he also shared the halfway lead in the Irish Open before fading over the weekend.
"I feel like I have been in good positions a lot this year and had some opportunities. The more I do it, the more and more comfortable I will be," Uihlein said.
"I was much better today, I was able to slow it down and be in my own element and not get ahead of myself.
"I learnt a lot from playing with Jim Furyk in the first two rounds of the PGA Championship. It was great to learn how he went about his business.
"Today the wind was tricky but I was able to play solid and attack where I needed to. I was able to plot my way around. I am excited about tomorrow and looking forward to it."
Levet matched Uihlein's 67 as he looks to improve on a dreadful season in which his best finish from 17 events is a share of 30th place.
Spain's Rafael Cabrera Bello, Holland's Joost Luiten and Sweden's Peter Hedblom were four off the lead on three under par, with Hedblom's 66 the lowest round of the day.
Hedblom played six events in 2011 before undergoing a shoulder operation and lost his card in 2012 after finishing 143rd on the Race to Dubai.
"It's been tough and maybe I came back too early," Hedblom said. "You think you won't mind missing a few cuts because you want to play, but it gets into your confidence and I never really had one good round to get some confidence back."
Surprise halfway leader Liam Bond, who is ranked 1 528th in the world and only got into the tournament at the last minute, struggled to a 78 to fall nine shots off the pace.
Collated third-round scores in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor on Saturday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 71):
206 - Peter Uihlein (USA) 69 70 67
209 - Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 67 72 70, Thomas Levet (FRA) 75 67 67
210 - Joost Luiten (NED) 73 68 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP) 71 68 71, Peter Hedblom (SWE) 72 72 66
211 - Damien McGrane 70 71 70, Matthew Nixon 72 71 68, Mikko Korhonen (FIN) 71 70 70, Justin Walters (RSA) 71 71 69, Graeme Storm 72 67 72
212 - Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA) 67 71 74, Anders Hansen (DEN) 71 71 70, Eduardo De La Riva (ESP) 71 70 71, Richard Green (AUS) 66 76 70
213 - Brett Rumford (AUS) 72 69 72, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 69 74 70, John Parry 71 69 73, Paul Waring 72 70 71, Mark Foster 67 75 71, Chris Paisley 74 69 70, Alexandre Kaleka (FRA) 71 72 70
214 - Craig Lee 77 67 70, Emiliano Grillo (ARG) 68 76 70, Robert Rock 68 73 73, Chris Wood 66 75 73, Magnus A Carlsson (SWE) 72 74 68, Espen Kofstad (NOR) 64 74 76, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (ESP) 70 75 69, Simon Wakefield 70 74 70
215 - Liam Bond 69 68 78, Mark Tullo (CHI) 74 70 71, Soren Hansen (DEN) 72 73 70, Scott Arnold (AUS) 72 74 69, Johan Edfors (SWE) 72 69 74, Oliver Fisher 71 72 72, Anthony Snobeck (FRA) 73 71 71, Seve Benson 76 70 69, Felipe Aguilar (CHI) 72 72 71, David Drysdale 70 73 72, David Higgins 74 70 71
216 - Brooks Koepka (USA) 72 71 73, Ross Fisher 71 71 74, Rhys Enoch 73 70 73, Jorge Campillo (ESP) 71 73 72, Matthew Baldwin 74 72 70, Paul McGinley 70 69 77, Andreas Harto (DEN) 72 72 72
217 - Richard Bland 75 71 71, Alessandro Tadini (ITA) 70 72 75, Eddie Pepperell 77 69 71, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND) 72 70 75, Simon Dyson 76 69 72, Alexander Levy (FRA) 71 69 77, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 71 74 72
218 - Mikko Ilonen (FIN) 69 74 75, Maximilian Kieffer (GER) 69 75 74, Joakim Lagergren (SWE) 74 72 72, Christopher Doak 72 70 76, Jose Manuel Lara (ESP) 73 70 75
219 - Romain Wattel (FRA) 72 74 73, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 72 73 74, Gareth Maybin 71 75 73, Michael Jonzon (SWE) 71 74 74, Ricardo Santos (POR) 70 76 73, Julien Quesne (FRA) 73 69 77
220 - Andrew Dodt (AUS) 71 75 74, Scott Jamieson 74 72 74
221 - Peter Erofejeff (FIN) 71 74 76, Robert Coles 69 73 79, Raphael Jacquelin (FRA) 70 71 80
222 - Christian Cevaer (FRA) 70 72 80
224 - Andrew Marshall 71 72 81
