Los Angeles - Andrew Putnam earned 15 points on Saturday to grab a three-point lead over fellow American and playing partner Sam Saunders heading into the final round of the PGA Tour's Barracuda Championship.

Putnam had eight birdies and just one bogey at windy Montreux Golf and Country Club in the Tour's lone Modified Stableford scoring tournament in Reno, Nevada.

Under the format, the players get eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie and zero for par with a point subtracted for a bogey and three points docked for double bogey or worse.

Putnam, a 29-year-old from Tacoma, Washington, who is seeking his first USPGA Tour victory, tops the leaderboard with 38 points over three days.

Saunders, who is golfing legend Arnold Palmer's grandson, eagled the par-five 13th and 18th in a 12-point round. Like Putnam, he's hoping for his first Tour win.

Chad Campbell was third at 32 points after compiling 22 points in his round.

Ireland's Shane Lowry eagled the 18th hole in an eight-point round to reach a total of 30 points.

Leading point totals after Saturday's third round of the PGA Barracuda Championship, which uses a Modified Stableford scoring system that awards eight points for an albatross, five for an eagle, two for a birdie, zero for par, minus one for a bogey and minus three for any worse score; USA unless noted):

38 - Andrew Putnam 6 17 15

35 - Sam Saunders 10 13 12

32 - Chad Campbell 6 4 22

30 - Shane Lowry (IRL) 10 12 8

29 - John Oda 7 9 13, J.J. Spaun 7 12 10

26 - Chris Stroud 7 6 13, Michael Thompson 10 3 13, Martin Laird (SCO) 9 8 9, Aaron Baddeley (AUS) 14 12 0, Ollie Schniederjans 17 8 1

25 - Derek Fathauer 6 14 5

24 - Zac Blair 0 12 12, Scott Stallings 9 9 6, Matt Jones (AUS) 10 10 4

23 - Tom Hoge 5 8 10, Stuart Appleby (AUS) 3 10 10, Ethan Tracy 9 6 8, Alex Cejka (GER) 10 6 7