Hedblom leads Johnnie Walker Championship

He overtook first- and second-round leader and 1999 British Open champion Paul Lawrie atop the leaderboard with an 8-under 208 total after starting the third round four strokes back.

Lawrie (73) is 7-under 209, alone in second place.

"Today's round felt really, really good," Hedblom told reporters. "I didn't really hit too many bad shots and felt like I holed some putts as well, which is not that easy on the greens (at the Gleneagles golf course in Perth, Scotland)."

"We got quite a few wrong today because (the wind) just kept dropping and changing so that was hard," Lawrie said

Steven O'Hara (66), Gregory Bourdy (71), Jamie Donaldson (70) and Soren Hansen (71) all are 6-under 210, knotted in third.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International.