Adam Scott shot a 2-under 69 Saturday to take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Singapore Open, a tournament he has won twice before at the Sentosa Golf Club.
Scott, who won here in 2005 and 2006, had a 3-round total of 14-under 199.
Defending champion Ian Poulter of England and Kang Kyung-nam of South Korea were tied for second place, Kang after a 67 and Poulter following a 68. In fourth place, another stroke behind, was U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland.
Phil Mickelsen fell off the pace with a 75 that left him 12 strokes behind the lead in the jointly-sactioned Asian and European tours event.
Scott started the day with a two-shot lead over his playing partner Poulter and the lead was exchanged several times throughout the afternoon. Kang recovered from a double bogey seven on the seventh hole to get five straight birdies for a 30 on the back nine.
''It wasn't easy out there today,'' Scott said. ''It was hot and it was a long round and I wasn't feeling on top of a lot of aspects of my game at times.''
Poulter was pleased to have cut the deficit to one stroke after a round which took almost six hours to complete.
''I played nicely,'' Poulter said. ''I think I missed one green and that was about 5 feet out, so I actually hit about 18 greens in regulation. But Adam played well as well so I think tomorrow is going to be a great day.''
