Westwood well placed for victory

Lee Westwood is on course to win the Nedbank Golf Challenge and will take a five-shot lead into the final round despite an indifferent day three at Sun City.

The world number one carded a one-under-par round of 71 to go with his flawless 64 yesterday and 68 on day one – ending on 13 under overall.

However, most of his closest rivals failed to match his effort today as low scoring was hard to come by on a much more difficult day at the Gary Player Country Club.

Fellow Englishman Ross Fisher, three behind overnight in second place, went around in 73, including a double bogey on his penultimate hole that saw him slip back to eight under, alongside Tim Clark – one of just two players to shoot 68s.

Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez and South African Ernie Els matched Westwood's 71, which helped them improve to seven and six under respectively.

Els is joined by Anders Hansen, the other player to manage a round-of-the-day 68, and Padraig Harrington after the Dubliner carded a level par 72.

Speaking afterwards, Westwood conceded that it was the most difficult of the three days so far.

His round, which was looking like a good one after 12 holes when he had managed three birdies, then suffered a little as two fives – on the par-four 13 and par-four 17 – saw him throw away a potentially even bigger lead.

He said: “I thought it was tricky out there today, there was a bit more wind than there has been on the other days.

“The tees were back so the holes played longer and it was pretty hot out there.

“Down that back nine I felt a little bit drained and my legs got a little bit weary, it was probably just the heat.

“But to come out of it with a five shot lead is a big bonus.”

Italian Edoardo Molinari suffered a huge turn in fortune after his 67 in round two and ended today with 73 for a five under total.

The rest of the 12-man field was made up of Retief Goosen (70 today) on four under, Robert Allenby (73) three under, Justin Rose (72) two under and Open champion Louis Oosthuizen (72) level par.