Kaymer eyes first European Tour title

Martin Kaymer, 2007 rookie of the year, seems on course for his maiden European Tour title after moving to 17 under at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship after a third-round 68 today.

Anthony Wall at 11-under and Stenson a further shot adrift.

Paul McGinley was the best performing Irishman today, shooting an impressive 66 to go to seven under for the tournament.

Padraig Harrington, Paul Lawrie and Rory McIlroy are all on three under par.

Lee Westwood trails leader Kaymer by eight strokes heading into Sunday's final round but the Ryder Cup star does not feel the task of catching the German is insurmountable.

Westwood, a winner 18 times on the European Tour, was in a worse situation at November's HSBC Champions event in Shanghai as he faced a double-figure deficit to world number two Phil Mickelson in the middle of the final round.

He managed to force himself into a play-off and although he ultimately lost, that experience has proved to him anything is possible.

A seven-under-par 65 moved Westwood up to fourth behind runaway leader Kaymer, on 17 under, compatriot Wall and Sweden's Henrik Stenson, and raised confidence ahead of the final round.

"You saw in Shanghai when Phil Mickelson and Ross Fisher came back to the pack. I was 12 behind with nine holes to play or something silly like that so daft things can happen on the golf course," said Westwood.

"But you have to make them happen at the same time. It is no good waiting for people to come back to you; you have to put some pressure on yourself. Hopefully a 65 might do that.

"The nearer the finishing post comes for Martin the harder it will get. It is not an easy golf course and if you start missing fairways it becomes very difficult.

"It is not easy with a lead and I know when I've played tournaments with a five or six-shot lead, your mindset turns to the thoughts of 'I don't want to let this slip or I'm going to look a fool' rather than concentrating on what you have been doing to get five or six in front."

Westwood reached the turn in 34 despite opening his round with three successive birdies before he came home in a magnificent five-under 31 to leap to nine under.

"It is the example of all the hard work I put in through the winter," said the Englishman, currently second in the Order of Merit.

"I had a lot of top 10s towards the end of last year and I really started to feel very confident.

"I didn't drive the ball well around the front nine but I got it out in a couple under but then I started to hit a lot more fairways on the back nine and shot five under, which was good.

"I felt a little rusty over the first couple of days because I didn't play much in the last 10 weeks other than Tiger Woods' tournament (the Target World Challenge).

"It has mainly been short game stuff, so to use one of the old football terms, I wasn't quite match fit at the start of the week, but it's coming."