Brian Harman recovered from a shaky start on the way to an even-par 72 for a three-stroke lead through the third round of the Valero Texas Open on Saturday at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course in San Antonio.

Harman wavered at times after entering the day with a four-shot edge but came through enough as several contenders stalled in their pursuits.

Andrew Novak shot 69 to move to 9 under in second place. Tom Hoge (68) is in third at 8 under and Kevin Mitchell (73) is fourth at 7 under.

Chad Ramey (70), Finland’s Sami Valimaki (70) and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune (73) all share fifth place.

Harman had bogeys on two of the first four holes. Birdies on Nos. 14 and 17 got him on track.

Yet, the late-round challenges included needing to scramble for par on the par-3 16th hole after his tee shot was in the fringe rough.

Canada’s Corey Conners, a two-time winner of the tournament, had worked himself into contention before a disastrous stretch. He began on the backside and chipped in for eagle on No. 17, sharing third place on the leaderboard.

But Conners played his last two holes in 3 over, with a double-bogey 6 on No. 9.