NEWPORT, Wales -- Scott Strange maintained a three-shot lead after the third round of the Celtic Manor Wales Open on Saturday, despite falling ill on the back nine of the European Tour event.

The 31-year-old Australian, who began the day with a four-stroke lead, shot 2-under 69 to reach 15 under for the tournament. He led Spanish rookie Alvaro Velasco, who shot a third-round 68, on the Celtic Manor Twenty Ten Course, which will host the Ryder Cup in 2010.

"Down 14 I felt flat, then walking up the hill on 15, I felt dizzy," said Strange, who added it never reached the point where he thought of quitting. "I had a banana, some water and some chocolate and felt better. But now I feel a bit queasy in my stomach."

Strange, who shot an opening-round 63, birdied the second, fourth and 11th holes and dropped his only shot at the 15th, where he felt ill.

"I'm very happy with where I'm sitting," he said. "Now I've got to close it out."

Velasco, who has already had two top-10 finishes this year, said extra work on his short game has been paying off this week.

"It wasn't very good at the beginning of the season but it is better now and I feel amazing confidence," he said. "I hope to be confident for one more day."

Three players shared third place -- Jeev Milka Singh of India (69), Robert Karlsson of Sweden (68) and Raphael Jacquelin of France (68) -- four strokes off the lead.

Singh said he planned to attack more in Sunday's final round.

"You have to position yourself well here, so you can't knock yourself out by being too aggressive," Singh said. "It all depends on the setup and how you assess the risk against the reward."

Thomas Levet was in a large group another shot back after a 6-under 65, the best round of the day. Despite being five shots back, Levet said he was still optimistic about the final round.

"Things can change quickly, as we've seen the last few weeks," the Frenchman said. "Even a leader can have trouble keeping the lead with four or five to go."

England's Nick Dougherty believes he is back on course to earn a Ryder Cup debut in September after he returned a 67 to move up to 10 under and a tie for sixth place. While a third Tour victory is still a tall order, he is delighted with how he is playing just a month after the death of his mother.

"I feel a lot better after these three days," he said. "Things have been going on off the course with the loss in our family, but I'm optimistic again. I was starting to get worried about the state of my game, but I played awesome today and it's so long since I played that freely."

Part of the possible reason for that, the 26-year-old from Liverpool believes, was a decision not to look at leaderboards, but he hopes there will be a stage late on in the final round when there is a need to know.

Dougherty will be at the U.S. Open the week after next and looking for at least a repeat of last year when he led after the opening day, coped well when paired with Tiger Woods in the third round and finished seventh.

Darren Clarke also shot 67 on Saturday to be on 8 under, but Colin Montgomerie is still struggling to find his best form and a 73 dropped him from 18th to 46th and out of it at 3 under.

Strange, a complete stranger to the vast majority of golf fans in Europe whose best Tour finish on European soil before this week was 10th, has led since his opening 63. But Strange, 164th in the world rankings, did what he had to do, picking off birdies at three of the par 5s and hitting back from a bogey on the short third with a superb approach to four feet at the 461-yard next.

Another dropped shot at the driveable par-4 15th gave the chasing pack more hope, though, as will the fact that he covered the last seven holes in one over when presented with a chance to put one hand on the trophy.

Karlsson, the 2006 champion, has finished third in each of the last three tournaments, but will be desperately keen to do better than that after three-putting the final green from three feet in the BMW PGA Championship last Sunday when a birdie would have put him in a playoff.

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