Dredge will look for revenge at Irish Open

Dredge finished 54 holes at nine-under 207 and is one clear of Richard Finch, who fired a 65 on Saturday. Lee Westwood carded a 64 in round three and is third at minus-seven.

"I was pretty disappointed," said Dredge of last year's sudden-death loss where he splashed his third in the playoff in water en route to a double- bogey. "If Padraig had made birdie and I made par, then fair enough. You never want to give it away.

"I got myself into a good position again. Hopefully the experience from last year put me in good stand to have a good day tomorrow."

Dredge bogeyed the first hole, but responded with a birdie at the very next hole. He recorded six consecutive pars until a birdie at the par-five ninth, his first at the hole all week.

The Welshman flew up the leaderboard thanks to his play early on the second nine. Dredge birdied holes 10, 12 and 14 to get within one of Finch, but a 15- foot birdie putt at the 15th gave Dredge a share of the lead.

He hit a poor tee shot at the par-three 16th, but chipped to three feet and saved par. At the par-five closing hole, Dredge hit his third to four feet and converted the birdie putt to grab sole possession of the lead.

"A 66, I'm obviously very pleased," said Dredge, a two-time winner on the European Tour. "The weather is really good. It's still a tough test out there."

Dredge's two victories came in the last five years, but he has not visited the winner's circle since the 2006 European Masters. He has a game plan for Sunday's final round.

"There are some quality guys up there," acknowledged Dredge. "I think people know from scoring today, you're going to have to shoot some scores tomorrow. I'm probably looking at getting myself to 14-, 15-under."

Finch recorded six birdies in his first 15 holes to shoot up the leaderboard. At the 18th, Finch blew his second long. He got a free drop, chipped to seven feet and sank the birdie putt to get to eight-under par.

Finch collected his first victory on the European Tour in New Zealand earlier this season.

"Once you've done it once, you feel like you know what it's about," said Finch. "It's still a precious thing. It's not as though it doesn't matter. I look forward to tomorrow."

Robert Karlsson (69), David Frost (66) and Felipe Aguilar (67) share fourth place at minus-six. Ross Fisher (69) and Mikko Ilonen (68) are knotted in seventh at five-under 211.

Overnight leader Michael Lorenzo-Vera struggled to a three-over 75 on Saturday and fell into a tie for 17th place at three-under-par 213.