SAN ROQUE, Spain -- David Griffiths shot a third-round 6-under-par 66 to open a two-stroke lead Saturday in the Spanish Open.

Griffiths, an Englishman who spent part of the winter at his base in Sea Island, Georgia, preparing for the season, has dropped only one stroke in three days.

Swede Niclas Fasth also shot a 66, to trail by two. Fellow countryman Robert Karlsson had a 68 and is also two off the pace.

"It's the first time I've led but I feel very comfortable and I can't wait for tomorrow," Griffiths, 25, said. "I think I can win. I have to make a good start and get comfortable early on and just keep on playing as I have been playing."

Griffiths' only bogey, at the short 17th, came on a pulled 5-iron into a bad lie on a downslope. From there, he couldn't get close.

"I felt really good today," he said. "I got comfortable and was seeing my shots well. I was never under any strain."

Colin Montgomerie, who won the European Tour money title last season, had a 72 to leave him in a tie for 20th place -- nine strokes back.

"I didn't hole anything. Nothing happened at all," he said. "I just didn't play well today."

Fasth carded a birdie-eagle-birdie start on the way to his 66, but dropped shots at the sixth and ninth.

"The course can catch you if you don't fully concentrate," he said. "There are a lot of trees and some water. It is tight and tricky.

"It's not that my swing is working perfectly, but I am definitely playing well and putting much better," said the former Ryder Cup player, who won the Deutsche Bank Players Championship last year.

Karlsson, who had a course-record 63 in the second round, said he was counting on his experience for the final round.

"I have won twice in Spain so I know how to manage this position. I have good memories of Spain."

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