COLOGNE, Germany, June 23, 2012 (AFP) - The 24-year-old leads compatriot Chris Wood and halfway leader Joel Sjoholm of Sweden, with South African Keith Horne and Australian Marcus Fraser on 10 under.
"I got the ball under pretty good control most of the day," said Willett.
"The wind was whipping around a bit but I drove the ball great which makes it a lot easier around this golf course."
Former Walker Cup player Willett, who has 19 top 10 finishes, carded six birdies with three bogeys.
"If you want to be in contention, you have to have things go your way a little bit. It's good to be back in a position where I feel like I should be," added Willett.
"Tomorrow is just a case of making sure you go through everything properly, make sure you get the right numbers in your hand and you have the right feeling for the shot and see what you can do."
Leading and selected third round scores in the BMW International Open at Gut Larchenhof GC, Cologne, on Saturday (GBR/IRL unless stated, par 72):
204 - Danny Willett 65 70 69
205 - Joel Sjoholm (SWE) 67 66 72, Chris Wood 65 70 70
206 - Keith Horne (RSA) 66 73 67, Marcus Fraser (AUS) 64 74 68
207 - Fabrizio Zanotti (PAR) 64 71 72, Marcel Siem (GER) 68 71 68, Richard Sterne (RSA) 69 69 69
208 - Steve Webster 69 70 69, Andrew Marshall 71 67 70
209 - Thomas Norret (DEN) 67 69 73, Matthew Nixon 71 66 72, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 69 70 70, Oliver Wilson 69 73 67, Pelle Edberg (SWE) 66 74 69, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano (ESP) 71 69 69, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 70 68 71, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 70 71 68
Selected
211 - Bernhard Langer (GER) 72 67 72, Shiv Kapur (IND) 66 70 75, Dylan Frittelli (RSA) 69 68 74
212 - Paul McGinley 65 70 77
213 - Richard Green (AUS) 67 73 73
215 - Colin Montgomerie 69 74 72
216 - Michael Campbell (NZL) 70 68 78
217 - James Kingston (RSA) 71 72 74, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 71 67 79, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 68 74 75