Westwood claims share of lead

Westwood's sole Stateside win in a 25-victory career came at the 1998 Freeport-McDermott Classic, but the Englishman will go into tomorrow's final round at the Firestone Country Club in a three-way share of the lead.

He was level at eight under par with halfway leader Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson, who both succumbed to bogeys in their closing holes in Akron, Ohio. Mickelson had a chance to take a one-shot advantage into the last day but missed a 12-foot birdie putt at the 18th while Singh fell back to eight under with a bogey at the 17th.

Westwood began his round at five under, two behind Singh, but rattled in three birdies in his first three holes to take the outright lead. A bogey at the par-four ninth saw him turn for home in a four-way tie for the lead with Singh, Mickelson and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez, who joined the front-runners after chipping in from 90 feet at the ninth.

Jimenez shot three over on the back nine to fall away and card a level-par 70, four under for the tournament, but Westwood stayed firm with birdies at the 12th and 17th, and only a bogey at the 16th in the negative column.

Australian Stuart Appleby was just a shot back at seven under with first-round leader Retief Goosen rallying from a 71 on Friday to post a 68 and reach five under.

Among those on four under was Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke, who posted a five-under-par 65, the joint best round of the day. Sweden's Daniel Chopra fired a four-under-par round of 67 and England's Ian Poulter a 69 to move to four under for the tournament.

Chopra had been four under for his day after 17 holes, bouncing back from a disappointing four-over-par second-round 74. Yet he suffered the same fate as Clarke when he bogeyed the 18th.

Clarke's playing partner Sergio Garcia had started strongly to move to three under after 10 holes but his charge was checked by three bogeys on the back nine. A birdie at the 17th was the only ray of light as the Spaniard posted a 68 to move to one over.

England's Justin Rose birdied his first three holes and the seventh to move to three under but fell back with bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes on his way to a 68 that left him one over.