Donald storms into contention at Sawgrass

Luke Donald carded a near-perfect seven-under-par 65 to vault within four strokes of the lead after the third round at the Players Championship.

The 29-year-old will have a chance to become just the second British player to win the prestigious event, joining 1987 champion Sandy Lyle.

But he will have to come from equal fifth place with group including Swede Carl Petterson, while Sean O’Hair birdied the final three holes to take the lead with a six-under 66 in benign conditions at the Sawgrass TPC.

O’Hair posted a nine-under 207 total, one stroke ahead of fellow American Phil Mickelson, who made a tap-in birdie at the last for 69.

Another American, Jeff Quinney, had the day’s best round, a 63, to move within two strokes with Australian Peter Lonard, whose 68 included a rare albatross at the par-five second, where he holed a five-iron from 229 yards.

Donald started the day a distant seven strokes behind the halfway leader, knowing he needed something special to jump into contention, and he made an ideal start with a 25-foot birdie at the par-four first.

“The key to my round was the birdie at the first. Anytime you start like that it gives you a boost,” said Donald, who added seven more birdies in benign conditions at the Sawgrass TPC, his only bogey coming at the par-four 10th, where he sank an eight-footer to avoid dropping two shots.

“My first two rounds I felt just a little bit off,” he said. “Today was a lot better. I hit a lot more fairways, a lot more greens.

“It was easy golf today and I putted very well, didn’t leave too much out there. I wasn’t in great shape [starting the day] but I knew, if I had a good round, I could get myself back into position.”

Apart from Donald’s long birdie at the first, his others all came from inside 15 feet, thanks to a series of precise approach shots.

Sergio Garcia, a team-mate of Donald’s on last year’s victorious European Ryder Cup team, also had a great round going until he made a mess of the par-four 18th, pulling is six-iron second shot into the water for a double bogey.

“I just pulled it a little bit,” said Garcia, who shot 67 for three-under 213.

“It’s a shame, but at least I put a good round out there and gave myself a chance for tomorrow.

“Unfortunately, I’m going to have to shoot two shots better than if I had made par on the last.”

At least Garcia was on the edge of contention, unlike Ian Poulter (72) and Padraig Harrington (74), who slipped 11 and 13 strokes respectively behind O’Hair.

Tiger Woods surrendered any faint chance of winning with a lame 73, and had nothing to say after signing for a five-over 221 total.

But Henrik Stenson, who played with the world number, was more accommodating.

“He’s frustrated,” Stenson said of Woods. “He was more struggling with his long game than putting today, even though the putts didn’t go in, but he’s allowed to have a bad week.

“I don’t think everybody realised that he’s human, because a lot of times he doesn’t seem to be.”