Cejka has the edge

Germany’s Alex Cejka strengthened his lead at The Players Championship today as the leaders got their third rounds under way at TPC Sawgrass.

Poulter teed off in the last pairing with overnight leader Cejka, with both golfers entertaining thoughts of a maiden PGA Tour victory.

Cejka teed off at 11-under-par, leading Ian Poulter by two strokes with a five-man group of Masters champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina, Henrik Stenson of Sweden and American quartet of Jason Dufner, John Mallinger, Kevin Na and David Toms on seven-under.

Both Poulter and Cejka opened with consecutive pars until the Czech-born German extended his advantage with a birdie at the par-four fifth hole as the English Ryder Cup player continued to card pars.

Stenson briefly joined Poulter on nine under after birdies at the par-five second and fifth but fell back with a bogey at the par-four seventh.

Continuing the strong European presence on the leaderboard, Swedish duo Daniel Chopra and Richard S Johnson both made moves in the right direction. Chopra opened with three birdies to move to seven under before bogeying the par-four fifth and a further birdie at nine was negated with a bogey at the 12th.

Johnson had started at six-under and dropped a shot at the second before rebounding with a birdie two at the eighth.

American Kevin Na broke up the Euro party with back-to-back birdies at 10 and 11 to reach nine-under and tie for second with Poulter.

Chopra’s playing partner Tiger Woods moved to five under after six holes but the world number one found trouble off the tee at 11 and played his second shot from the base of a pine tree left-handed with a flipped over iron.

While that paid dividends his third shot from out of position on the right fairway demanded a cut around a tree but Woods’ shot never turned back in from the left and he was forced to settle for a bogey six to fall to four-under.

The setback was short-lived, however, as Woods birdied the 12th to re-enter the top 10 on the leaderboard at five under alongside England’s Brian Davis, who had played 13 holes.

Paul Casey of England had started at five-under before a double-bogey six at the 10th, while Paul Casey of England had started at five-under before a double-bogey six at the 10th, while compatriot Justin Rose shot a 72 to finish his third round on three-under.

World number two Phil Mickelson had been among the stragglers at TPC Sawgrass trying to avoid the second cut.

With 83 players making the weekend’s play, tournament officials decided to make another cut after the third round to reduce the field further to the low 70 and ties.

That meant trouble for Mickelson initially. He had needed a birdie at the last on Friday to make the halfway cut at level par and began badly with bogeys at the second and 10th holes to send him into a tie for 70th place at two over.

An eagle at the par-five 11th gave him some breathing room back at level-par and Mickelson came home in 71, one-under for the week, as did Luke Donald of England.

Defending champion Sergio Garcia posted a 73 to finish at one-over while Padraig Harrington hit a 74 to finish at two-over.

“I drove the ball super today,” Harrington said, a day after admitting his “addiction” to perfecting his swing and promising to get back to playing to his strengths.

Two-over was still enough to reach the final round but Robert Karlsson, Martin Laird and McDowell were facing a Sunday off after finishing on the wrong side of the projected cut line.

Swede Karlsson’s 75 sent him to three-over, Scotland’s Laird shot a four-over 76 to finish at three-over while McDowell finished with a 77, five-over for the week.