ASIAN TOUR:World number three Lee Westwood continued his sparkling form by shooting an eight-under-par 64 at the Thailand Golf Championship yesterday to tie the lowest 36-hole total at an Asian Tour event.
The Englishman followed up his career-best 12-under-par 60 on Thursday with eight birdies in a bogey-free round to equal the Asian Tour record set by Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat at the 2009 Sail Open in India.
Westwood’s 20 under total of 124 total gave him a clubhouse lead of 14 shots before US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel and America’s Michael Thompson both carded 66s in the afternoon to cut the lead to 11.
“It’s 14 now, outrageous isn’t it?” Westwood told reporters at the Amata Spring Country Club, 80 kilometres east of Bangkok, after his round.
“It’s still a long way to go. But at the same time, I’m looking forward to the weekend. I’m playing great and I’m feeling in total control. Every aspect of my game feels good.
“Strange really. Today almost felt better than yesterday. It was quite tough out there. The scoring is pretty tricky.
Westwood said there would be no change in his approach over the weekend as he tried to close out the win at the €768,000 inaugural tournament and claim a third success in Asia this year after his victories at the Ballantine’s Championship in South Korea and the Indonesian Masters.
“I’ll still try to play the same and try to win the tournament. I’ll try to keep the lead irrelevant and keep on playing as I’ve been playing. I’m playing pretty well and I want to maintain that and keep making birdies and no bogeys.”
Darren Clarke posted a second round of four-over-par 76, ending the day one shot inside the cut mark. Damien McGrane was four over following a 75 and Niall Turner six over after a 76, both players missing the cut.
AUSTRALIAN PGA TOUR:England's Ian Poulter battled a bout of food poisoning amid sweltering afternoon heat to emerge two strokes clear after the second round of the Australian Masters in Melbourne yesterday.
Poulter birdied his last two holes to card a three-under 68 and move to nine under, clear of early clubhouse leader Matthew Giles of Australia, who also carded a 68.
World number one Luke Donald also toiled but is still in striking distance of overnight leader Poulter on three under after a 70.
“I woke up this morning, wasn’t good at all,” admitted Pouler. “I had something bad to eat last night unfortunately, so I felt a bit weak out there today and it showed, I hit it terribly. Got myself out of position a number of times but my short game was on and I holed a few nice putts. So to look back at the round, I would have taken that score with certainly how I played.”
Poulter, who had to force himself to eat to keep his strength up, briefly surrendered the lead to Giles with a bogey on the par-four 11th but wrested it back with birdies at 14 and 17.
One last test was to come as he sprayed his tee-shot on the 18th and found a fairway bunker with his recovery.
An exquisite long-range bunker shot landed five feet from the hole and Poulter calmly rolled it in to keep the momentum heading into the weekend when winds are expected to turn the benign sandbelt course into a serious challenge.
LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR:American teenager Alexis Thompson will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters as she seeks to win her second professional title.
The 16-year-old birdied the 18th hole at Emirates Golf Club to card a two-under-par 70 in the third round, and leave her 10 under for the tournament.
Swede Sophie Gustafson is in second place after a round of 69, while in joint third spot, two shots adrift of Thompson, are Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa and Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg.
Pace carded a blemish-free round of 67 while Lindberg finished with a 68 after a brilliant back nine of 32 that included five birdies and no dropped shots.
Ireland’s Rebecca Codd also had a strong finish to her third round, picking up four birdies in the final five holes in a level-par round of 72.
That left her on two over for the tournament with 18 holes to play.
