KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Defending champion Peter Hedblom fired a bogey-free round of 7-under 65 today to claim a two-stroke lead going into the final round of the Malaysian Open.

The Swede fired five birdies on the back nine to complete his third successive sub-70 round for an aggregate score of 17-under 199 at Kota Permai.

Argentina's Daniel Vancsik eagled the first hole after a long iron to within a foot of the flag, en route to the day's best round of 64 to move into sole possession of second place at 15-under.

He was a shot ahead of a trio on 14-under: Soren Kjeldsen of Denmark, Simon Dyson of England, and Jyoti Randhawa of India.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke was among four players a shot further back, along with second-round joint-leader Nick Dougherty of England. Clarke raced through the front nine in a mere 29 strokes, but two bogies on the last two holes denied him a share of third.

The other joint second-round leader Danny Chia recorded a triple-bogey 7 on the third hole on the way to a round of 8-over 80, putting him out of contention and ensuring there would still be no local winner after 47 years of the event, now co-sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.

Hedblom was pleased with the strength of his title defense, albeit at a different course to last year's event.

"Last year was the first time I played good in Malaysia," Hedblom said. "So far it has been good but I dont know why. I dont normally play well in hot weather but the last two years have been good.

"Two shot lead - you want to get as big a lead as possible as you can shoot a low score round here."