Lee Westwood
Lee Westwood made his move towards winning the US$750,000 Indonesian Masters, shooting a brilliant six-under-par 66 in the third round on Saturday.
Despite bogeying the last hole, the Englishman still held a commanding five-shot lead on 16-under-par 200 to put himself in prime position of celebrating his 38th birthday with a victory at the Royale Jakarta Golf Club.
Westwood was the world number one for 17 weeks before being replaced by Martin Kaymer in February and is in the running of regaining the top spot if he wins this week and Luke Donald does not in the United States.
Asian Tour rookie Park Hyun-bin of Korea, who has only one bogey (second round) in his campaign so far, fired a 70 to share second place with Thitiphun Chuayprakong of Thailand on a 205 total in the inaugural event.
Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng fired a 69, courtesy of an eagle three on the 12th hole to lie in fourth place while Bangladeshi Siddikur, Filipino Antonio Lascuna and Thai duo Prom Meesawat and Thongchai Jaidee are a stroke back.
Westwood, who returned Saturday morning to complete two holes of the second round where he took a one-shot lead, said reverting to the conventional putter from the belly putter worked wonders for him as he shot two hat-tricks of birdies from holes one and nine.
“It feels much better using the conventional putter because every decent putt seems to go in and that made me more comfortable. I’ve been in this position before and I’ll try not to get ahead of myself,” said the Englishman, who has won over 30 titles in his stellar career.
Westwood said he was focused on winning the Indonesian Masters. “I’m here to win a tournament. World rankings seem to take care of themselves,” added Westwood, Europe’s number one in 2000 and 2009.
Little known Thitiphun, who won an event in China last week, admitted to feeling nervous but regained confidence when he sank a huge 18 feet birdie putt on the second hole.
“I kept to my game plan of not being too greedy. You can’t get birdies all the time. My putting has been excellent this week and that has been pulling my game up,” said the 18-year-old.
The ever smiling Thai, who earned his Asian Tour card at Qualifying School in Thailand earlier this year, was relishing the opportunity of playing with Westwood in the final round.
“You won’t get many opportunities of playing with one of the world’s best golfers. I’m really looking forward to it. It won’t be easy to win though because I think I’ll be very nervous,” added the Thai.
Park saved numerous pars in a round of two birdies and was delighted with his putting and accurate iron play.
“My putting has been very solid. I managed to save many pars. I wished I could make more birdies but overall, I’m happy with what I shot,” said the 24-year-old.
