Date: May 12, 2007
Author:

Zions within four shots

Lee Westwood will take a one-shot lead into the final day of the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia while Australian Matthew Zions is just four strokes adrift. Westwood was on target to break his own 24 hours-old course record until bogeys at the 17th and 18th meant he had to settle for a 65 and 15-under-par total of 201. In outright second place is local favourite and tournament promoter Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, who is chasing a second win in seven days after victory in the Italian Open on Sunday. “I was pleased with the way I played. I didn&apost hit the ball as well as I would have liked but it was nice to hole a few putts for a change,” said Westwood, who abandoned his belly putter after an opening 72 and is 15-under-par for the following 36 holes. “On the last two holes I short-sided myself and it&aposs just one of those things you have to accept. I was trying to make birdie, not bogey, but I&aposm not particularly bothered. These things happen. “My sole aim this week was to get my putting back in order and I&aposve done that. It&aposs been a great week so far no matter what happens. “I was going round in circles and needed to find a new putting method and use it under pressure. All the boxes have been ticked already.” Westwood&aposs last tour victory came at the Dunhill Links in October 2003 but the Ryder Cup star added: “It would be nice to win tomorrow but I&aposm not overly concerned about that. “I&aposll be trying my hardest of course but the reason for coming here was the putting and to build up some confidence for the big weeks coming up. “When I get into (a winning) position I normally do the job. It&aposs something I always felt fairly natural at and hopefully it will kick in tomorrow. Normally I&aposm a good front runner and I have more experience than anyone in the field of winning so I&aposm looking forward to it.” After slipping to 63rd in the world rankings, Westwood failed to qualify for this week&aposs Players Championship at Sawgrass. Not that he is too bothered about that either. “I was watching it on television last night and there wasn&apost an overwhelming sense of disappointment going over me, I must admit,” Westwood added. “It&aposs a massive tournament but they keep building it up as the “fifth major” but to be perfectly honest it&aposs not. It&aposs just a big US Tour event and I&aposve talked to some people who were there and they got that feeling.” Fernandez-Castano, who learnt to play golf on the par-three course here, warned Westwood he was in the mood to do &apossomething very special&apos tomorrow. “My coach arrived on Friday evening and we worked a little on the range before they closed it and it really paid off,” said the 26-year-old, aiming to become the first player since Ernie Els in Dubai and Qatar in 2005 to win regular tour events in successive weeks. “I played very well today and if I keep hitting it like that I really have a chance to win the tournament tomorrow. Lee is a super player with lots of victories worldwide but I hope I can give him a hard time. “It&aposs very nice for anyone to win on home soil but there is always extra pressure and it&aposs not going to be easy, but if you told me at the start of the week I would be second going into the final round, I would be very happy. “I feel I can do something very special tomorrow.” Sweden&aposs Michael Jonzon and halfway leader Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa share third place on 13-under, one ahead of Swede Fredrik Andersson who matched Westwood&aposs course record with a 64. Zions carded a second consecutive round of 70 to be still well in the hunt at 11-under-par, while the remainder of the Australians are well of the pace. Wade Ormsby and Scott Strange are tied for 40th position at four-under-par, Matthew Millar and Terry Pilkadaris are in equal 48th place at three-under-par, while Peter Fowler is a further stroke behind in a tie for 56th. Results from round three of the Valle Romano Open de Andalucia, Spain: -15: Lee Westwood 72 64 65 -14: Gonzalo Fernandez -Castano 67 68 67 -13: Michael Jonzon 69 68 66, Louis Oosthuizen 67 67 69 -12: Fredrik Andersson Hed 69 71 64 -11: Phillip Archer 69 70 66, Matthew Zions (Australia) 65 70 70 -10: Thomas Bjorn 71 69 66, Chris Gane 67 71 68 -9: Fran ois Delamontagne 69 66 72, Joakim Haeggman 67 71 69, David Higgins 69 68 70, Steve Jones 69 67 71, Alvaro Salto 70 69 68 also: -4: Wade Ormsby (Australia) 73 70 69, Scott Strange (Australia) 72 71 69 -3: Matthew Millar (Australia) 68 73 72, Terry Pilkadaris (Australia) 71 71 71 -2: Peter Fowler (Australia) 73 71 70