CRANS-SUR-SIERRE, Switzerland, Sept 1, 2012 (AFP) - Ramsay picked up birdies in three of his opening five holes before adding three more on the back nine to finish a weather-affected round on six under par and move to 11 under for the tournament, one shot clear of Lawrie and England's Danny Willett.
Lawrie, who was named in the Europe team for the Ryder Cup having last week won the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, had looked on course to top the leaderboard heading into the final day after climbing to first place on the back of an eventful start to his third round, which included an eagle three on the first.
Following that he picked up four birdies, while dropping shots at the third and fifth, to reach the turn in 31 before adding another birdie at the 12th to move to 12 under.
However, a double-bogey seven at the 14th saw him drop back down and he could not pick up any more shots as he finished with four successive pars to card a 67.
Willett, meanwhile, followed up back-to-back 67s with a 68.
He too started with an eagle at the first but dropped shots at the second, 13th and 16th threatened to leave him further down the leaderboard before he finished with successive birdies.
France's Julien Quesne, who was the overnight leader a shot ahead of Willett, slipped back to fourth on nine under par after carding an even-par 70 on Saturday after play had been suspended by an hour and 40 minutes due to thick fog.
Heavy overnight rain had also forced tournament organisers to make the par-four sixth hole a par three for the third round.
European Masters third round scores at Crans-sur-Sierre here on Saturday (GBR and IRL unless stated, par 70):
(Note: For round 1 and 2 par 71, for round 3 par 70 due to overnight rain):
201 - Richie Ramsay 69 68 64
202 - Paul Lawrie 69 66 67, Danny Willett 67 67 68
203 - Julien Quesne (FRA) 68 65 70
204 - Jamie Donaldson 69 69 66, Jaco Van Zyl (RSA) 69 68 67, Mathias Gronberg (SWE) 70 69 65
205 - Anders Hansen (DEN) 68 70 67, Joost Luiten (NED) 71 71 63, David Howell 66 70 69, Rikard Karlberg (SWE) 72 67 66, Graeme Storm 68 70 67, Felipe Aguilar (CHI) 68 69 68, Romain Wattel (FRA) 67 70 68, Fredrik Andersson Hed (SWE) 65 73 67, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 68 68 69
206 - Brett Rumford (AUS) 71 68 67, David Lynn 73 68 65, Bernd Wiesberger (AUT) 68 70 68, Sam Little 67 71 68, Simon Dyson 69 70 67, Thomas Levet (FRA) 68 70 68
207 - Michael Jonzon (SWE) 71 67 69, Johan Edfors (SWE) 67 74 66
208 - Michael Campbell (NZL) 70 71 67, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 77 65 66, Shane Lowry 69 71 68, David Lipsky (USA) 70 70 68, Marcel Siem (GER) 68 72 68, Victor Dubuisson (FRA) 68 71 69, Jason Knutzon (USA) 70 72 66
209 - Steve Webster 69 71 69, Robert Coles 66 70 73, Richard McEvoy 69 71 69, Peter Hedblom (SWE) 72 70 67, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (IND) 71 71 67, Darren Fichardt (RSA) 70 72 67, Alex Cejka (GER) 69 71 69, Tjaart Van Der Walt (RSA) 70 70 69, David Drysdale 68 74 67, Alexander Noren (SWE) 71 69 69, Scott Barr (AUS) 66 72 71, Tommy Fleetwood 70 66 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 69 72 68
210 - Branden Grace (RSA) 70 72 68, Berry Henson (USA) 68 73 69, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 71 71 68, Oliver Fisher 65 73 72, Marc Warren 76 66 68, Markus Brier (AUT) 67 72 71, Gregory Bourdy (FRA) 63 75 72, Michael Hoey 70 68 72, Richard Sterne (RSA) 72 69 69
211 - Colin Montgomerie 72 68 71, Estanislao Goya (ARG) 74 66 71, Matteo Manassero (ITA) 71 70 70, Lee Slattery 68 74 69, Stephen Gallacher 67 71 73, Richard Finch 70 68 73, Lorenzo Gagli (ITA) 70 70 71, Gregory Havret (FRA) 69 72 70
212 - Ross Fisher 70 70 72, Rhys Davies 66 75 71, Benjamin Hebert (FRA) 72 69 71, Jose Manuel Lara (ESP) 68 74 70, Jyoti Randhawa (IND) 68 73 71