PANAMÁ CITY, Panamá – Ben Taylor used a 1-under 69 on Saturday to earn a one-stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round at the Panamá Championship. Players faced firm and fast conditions at the Club de Golf de Panamá with winds gusting up to 28 miles per hour on Saturday.

Taylor began the week with an even-par 70 and 5-under 65 in his first two rounds, taking a one-shot lead into the third round. He began the third round with a birdie on No. 2 but had bogeys on Nos. 8 and 9 to close out the front side. Taylor bounced back with birdies on Nos. 11 and 12 and remained steady down the stretch to finish the day at 1-under, despite not having his best performance on the greens.

“I played solid today and it really could’ve been a lot lower. I hit a lot of good shots which is very key in the wind,” Taylor said. “Today was one of those days where you want to keep yourself in the tournament and we executed that game plan well. It was a shame we had a couple bogeys in there, but this is that kind of golf course and that’s going to happen.”

Taylor has a 66th-place finish and a missed cut in two previous starts at the Panamá Championship. The Epsom, England, native is comfortable with the winds in Panamá, having grown up playing in similar conditions.

“We knew it was going to be windy and we knew the wind was going to be the same direction,” Taylor said. “We just tried to not get greedy out there. I didn’t want to do anything different than I did the last two days, which we succeeded doing today.”

Taylor, who already has two top-25 finishes so far on the year, is coming off a T18 in Bogotá, where he earned his first Web.com Tour victory last season. When asked about the 2018 win, Taylor mentioned the confidence it brings to his game.

“Just that I’ve obviously done it before, so it’s not new to me now which certainly adds to the comfort factor,” Taylor said. “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and focus on one shot at a time.”

Sitting behind Taylor is Web.com Tour rookie Carl Yuan who is in solo-second at 5-under. Yuan, who began the day T6, used five birdies, including one at the 18th, to separate himself from a pack of players at T3.

“I drove it pretty well and was always in play and didn’t really have to hit any punch-outs or recovery shots,” Yuan said. “I’m hitting it pretty good and my putting is pretty solid. It’s not that easy of a course, especially with this wind. You have to put the ball in the fairway to give yourself chances to go for it.”

Yuan is making just his fourth-career Web.com Tour start this week and has two top-25 finishes already this season. Despite the big stage, the 21-year-old isn’t projecting nervous vibes heading into Sunday’s final round.

“It’s just another day of golf tomorrow,” Yuan said. “I sometimes get too relaxed playing and have too much fun. There’s not too much I have to worry about. It’s just another day and I have to play it shot by shot and just see how it goes."

Cameron Percy, Tyler McCumber, Derek Ernst and Mickey DeMorat all sit at T3, two strokes off the lead.

SATURDAY NOTES

• Saturday’s weather: Isolated showers, high of 91, winds N 12-18 miles per hour with gusts up to 28 miles per hour.

• This week’s purse is $625,000, with $112,500 going to the champion.

• Forty-two Web.com Tour winners with 62 victories are in the field this week.

• Players leading or co-leading after the third round have gone on to win the Panamá Championship seven times.

• Scott Langley erased a six-stroke deficit in last year’s final round, good for the largest comeback win in tournament history.

• Cameron Percy fired the low round of the day, shooting a 5-under 65. Percy began the day six shots off the lead and is now T3. Percy’s best finish in Panamá is T2, coming in 2012.

• Mickey DeMorat is T3 heading into Sunday after open qualifying for the event.

• Edward Loar, the 2012 Panamá Championship winner, posted a 4-under 66 on Saturday and now sits T10.

• Despite battling sickness throughout the week, Nicolas Echavarria is T7 after a 1-over 71 on Saturday.

• The par-4 seventh ranked as the most difficult hole during the third round with a scoring average of 4.446.

• The par-5 fourth was the easiest hole on Saturday with players converting 22 birdies and two eagles.

• For the second day in a row, the course scoring average was more than two strokes over par.