07/04/2009 - Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Overnight leader Rafa Echenique birdied the last hole Saturday to hold on to his spot atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Open de France.
Echenique shot a one-under 70 and finished 54 holes at 11-under 202 and is one clear of first-round leader Martin Kaymer, who managed a 69, at Le Golf National.
Paul Waring posted a three-under 68 and is alone in third at minus-nine.
Seve Benson (68), Richard Green (70) and Peter Hanson (70) are knotted in fourth place at eight-under 205.
Echenique began the third round with a two-shot cushion, but a bogey at the first hole hurt him out of the gate. He atoned for the error with a birdie at the fourth and made it two in a row with a 12-footer for birdie at the par- four fifth.
Echenique dropped a shot at the par-three eighth hole and fell to 10-under par for the championship.
Kaymer, Waring and Charl Schwartzel all eventually tied Echenique atop the leaderboard. Schwartzel bogeyed 12, 14 and 15 to fall down the board, then Waring bogeyed 14.
Kaymer kept pace with Echenique thanks to smart, even-par golf. Kaymer, the German who matched the course record on Thursday, birdied six and seven and parred nine straight around the turn.
At the 17th, Kaymer holed a tricky, multi-breaking 25-footer for birdie to match Echenique atop the leaderboard at minus-10.
Echenique, playing in the final group, narrowly missed the fairway at the par- four closing hole. He knocked his approach to six feet and drained the birdie putt to take sole possession of first.
"That last birdie was very good because the putter just didn't work for me today," acknowledged Echenique. "When you are playing in the last group in these conditions then you are always going to be a little nervous, but after the first three holes I realized that I should calm down and try to play my game."
Echenique will be in search of his first European Tour victory on Sunday. He has two Challenge Tour titles, but never broke through on the big circuit.
It certainly looked like Echenique had a good chance at that first win last week at the BMW International Open. The Argentine holed his second shot at the par-five 18th on Sunday to scare eventual winner Nick Dougherty.
"This is one of the biggest and best events on the European Tour and I believe that I can do it," said Echenique. "I did it in the Argentinean Open, so why not here? I will try to keep the same strategy as I have all week -- try and take irons off of most of the tees and get the putter working again because it wasn't working great today. It would be very big for me to win here."
Schwartzel finished with a one-over 72 and is tied for seventh place with Lee Westwood (70) and Robert-Jan Derksen (68). The trio is knotted at seven-under 206.
Ian Poulter carded a five-under 66 and is alone in 10th at minus-six.
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