SHANGHAI, April 26: Darren Clarke birdied the 18th hole to snare a one-stroke lead after day three of the $2.3 million Asian Open on Saturday.

The former Ryder Cup player from Northern Ireland posted a bogey-free five-under 67 for a nine-under total of 207, to lead Dutchman Robert-Jan Derksen by the slenderest of margins.

Derksen fired a three-under 69 to finish a stroke above Briton Robert Dinwiddie, who fired a sparkling best-of-week 66 to rise to outright third, two strokes above Taiwan’s Lin Wen-tang.

Clarke, chasing his first European Tour win since the WGC-NEC International in Ohio in 2003, holed five evenly spaced birdies but could have had more.

Dinwiddie soared into contention after a hot streak of five birdies in six holes on the back nine, with a double-bogey on the seventh the only blemish on his card.

Taiwanese Lin charged out of the blocks with three birdies on his first three holes, then finished strongly with consecutive birdies on the 16th and 17th after stumbling with a double-bogey on the 10th.

Lin’s seven-birdie three-under 69 gave him a two-stroke advantage over a clutch of players tied for fourth on 213, including China’s Hu Mu and Australian Peter O’Malley.

Overnight leader Zhang Lianwei of China fell out of contention with a bogey-littered four-over 76, and trailed Clarke by eight. Twice US Open champion Retief Goosen trailed by seven strokes after carding an even-par 72.

Leading third-round scores:

207 – Darren Clarke (Britain) 71, 69, 67.

208 – Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 70, 69, 69.

209 – Robert Dinwiddie (Britain) 70, 73, 66.

211 – Lin Wen-tang (Taiwan) 71, 71, 69.

213 – Michael Lorenzo-Vera (France) 75, 69, 69; Hu Mu (China) 73, 69, 71 Peter O’Malley (Australia) 67, 74, 72; Digvijay Singh (India) 74, 72, 67.

214 – David Gleeson (Australia) 73, 73, 68; Retief Goosen (South Africa) 72, 70, 72; Scott Hend (Australia) 69, 74, 71; Francesco Molinari (Italy) 71, 75, 68; Jeev Milkha Singh (India) 68, 76, 70; Miles Tunnicliff (Britain) 71, 70, 73.

215 – John Bickerton (Britain) 71, 75, 69; Paul Broadhurst (Britain) 71, 73, 71; Mark Brown (New Zealand) 75, 67, 73; Zhang Lianwei (China) 70, 69, 76; Rory McIlroy (Britain) 73, 73, 69; Chris Rodgers (Britain) 71, 73, 71; Liang Wenchong (China) 71, 71, 73.—Reuters