Lee Westwood climbed to the top of the leaderboard after an entertaining third round of 65 to sit one clear at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The Englishman only recorded six pars on a roller coaster Saturday but an eagle-par-birdie finish nudged the 47-year-old ahead of midway leader Corey Conners and American Bryson DeChambeau on 11 under par.
He is four strokes clear of Rory McIlroy heading into Sunday. The four-time Major winner failed to ignite on Saturday as he signed for a level par 72 in his third round which leaves him in a share of fifth place.
Westwood, Europe’s number one golfer in 2020, hopes to add another title to a distinguished career in which he has won 44 times worldwide as he aims to be the oldest international winner on the PGA Tour for more than 40 years.
“I don’t really know. The first time I played it I thought ‘this is good’,” he told Sky Sports Golf when he asked why he enjoys the Bay Hill course.
“I like the way it makes you shape the ball into some of the fairways. Obviously sometimes you have to hit it straight, like 18 — it’s just straightaway.
“You can fade it into a lot of the fairways, I like fading it up 10. You can draw it into some holes. It just sort of suits my game.
“I’m not the longest of hitters through the air any more, so it helps if I can use a lot of the fairways and everybody else has to.”
The world number 39 opened his round with a birdie before immediately cancelling that out with a bogey.
He kick-started a run of four birdies in five holes from the fourth to make his way up the leaderboard and continued his ascent with another gain at the 10th from 18 feet to get to nine under.
A bogey followed at the next but he recovered with a birdie at the 13th, only to hand that shot back at the 15th.
However, he found the fringe in two at the par-five 16th and sank the 32-foot eagle putt to earn a share of the lead with Conners, DeChambeau and Jordan Spieth.
But Westwood got his nose in front with a superb birdie putt from 28 feet at the last to card a seven-under 65.
DeChambeau entertained the fans as he attacked the famous shoehorn par-five sixth hole, driving over the water for a 370-yard tee-shot which landed on the fairway but carried into the rough en route to a 68, while Canadian Conners carded a one-under 71.
Spieth temporarily held a two-shot lead during the third round thanks to a stunning ace at the second hole, which sparked wild celebrations for the limited spectators in attendance in Orlando.
The three-time major champion remains in contention despite two bogeys in his final five holes as he sits on nine under alongside Keegan Bradley, who registered the round of the tournament with a flawless 64.
Meanwhile in the LPGA Drive on Championship in Florida, Ireland’s Leona Maguire is 10 shots off the lead of Austin Ernst after she carded a third round of 73 on Saturday. She’s currently in a seven-way share of seventh place alongside Lydia Ko.
Collated third round scores & totals in the USPGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational (USA unless stated, Par 72):
205 Lee Westwood (Eng) 69 71 65
206 Corey Conners (Can) 66 69 71, Bryson DeChambeau 67 71 68
207 Keegan Bradley 69 74 64, Jordan Spieth 70 69 68
208 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng) 70 70 68
209 Doug Ghim 71 73 65, Jazz Janewattananond (Tha) 75 65 69, Rory McIlroy (NIrl) 66 71 72, Richy Werenski 71 69 69
210 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa) 70 70 70, Jason Day (Aus) 70 72 68, Lanto Griffin 69 68 73, Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 77 67 66, Charley Hoffman 71 72 67, Chris Kirk 71 70 69, Jason Kokrak 68 73 69
211 Paul Casey (Eng) 70 69 72, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng) 69 71 71, Sung Jae Im (Kor) 69 70 72, Andrew Putnam 70 72 69
212 Max Homa 70 70 72, Kevin Kisner 73 72 67, Martin Laird (Sco) 69 67 76, Denny McCarthy 72 73 67, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor) 75 70 67, Danny Willett (Eng) 73 71 68, Branden Grace (Rsa) 74 71 67
213 Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 71 74 68, Padraig Harrington (Irl) 70 74 69, Keith Mitchell 73 71 69, Alexander Noren (Swe) 72 71 70, Ian Poulter (Eng) 70 73 70, Will Zalatoris 73 68 72
214 Harris English 73 70 71, Viktor Hovland (Nor) 69 68 77, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn) 75 70 69, Patrick Rodgers 73 72 69, Brendan Steele 71 72 71, Cameron Tringale 70 75 69, Harold Varner III 72 72 70
215 Jason Dufner 74 70 71, Tyler Duncan 72 72 71, Bo Hoag 74 70 71, Danny Lee (Nzl) 73 71 71, Maverick McNealy 71 72 72, Brendon Todd 74 70 71, Matt Wallace (Eng) 70 73 72, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 71 72
216 Will Gordon 72 72 72, Charles Howell III 74 72 70, Zach Johnson 74 70 72, Sebastian Munoz (Col) 68 76 72, Pat Perez 75 71 70
217 Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 68 74 75, Talor Gooch 73 73 71, Mark Hubbard 71 74 72, John Huh 74 71 72, Chez Reavie 74 70 73, Steve Stricker 72 71 74
218 Lucas Glover 72 74 72, Patton Kizzire 76 69 73, Russell Knox (Sco) 74 71 73, Luke List 71 72 75, Robert MacIntyre (Sco) 71 71 76, Kevin Na 71 71 76, Erik van Rooyen (Rsa) 72 74 72
220 Henrik Norlander (Swe) 71 75 74
221 Victor Perez (Fra) 69 74 78, Brandt Snedeker 75 71 75
222 Rickie Fowler 76 70 76, Doc Redman 73 73 76
Collated third round scores & totals in the LPGA Drive On Championship (USA unless stated, Par 72):
203 Austin Ernst 67 67 69
204 Jennifer Kupcho 67 67 70
209 Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (Tha) 70 70 69, Jennifer Coleman 70 69 70, Albane Valenzuela (Swi) 70 73 66
211 Danielle Kang 72 70 69, Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 71 65 75
212 Brittany Altomare 70 73 69, Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 70 70 72, In-Gee Chun (Kor) 70 73 69
213 Nelly Korda 67 70 76, Jessica Korda 69 75 69, Lydia Ko (Nzl) 69 72 72, Cheyenne Knight 71 70 72, Hee-Young Park (Kor) 73 72 68, Leona Maguire (Irl) 69 71 73, Jennifer Chang 73 71 69
214 Jeon-Geun Lee (Kor) 69 77 68, Charley Hull (Eng) 74 70 70, Megan Khang 69 72 73, Jaye Marie Green 68 72 74, Katherine Kirk (Aus) 69 72 73, Melissa Reid (Eng) 70 74 70
215 Sei-Young Kim (Kor) 72 70 73, Caroline Masson (Ger) 70 75 70, Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Den) 73 71 71, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 69 72 74, Sophia Popov (Ger) 74 70 71, Perrine Delacour (Fra) 71 74 70, Jennifer Song 70 72 73, Aditi Ashok (Ind) 72 73 70, Lindy Duncan 69 73 73, Hae-Ji Kang (Kor) 73 72 70, Elizabeth Szokol 72 73 70
216 Angel Yin 71 74 71, Bronte Law (Eng) 70 73 73, Ally Ewing 71 73 72, Jing Yan (Chn) 68 74 74, Kristen Gillman 75 70 71, Nicole Broch Larsen (Den) 72 74 70, Ryann O’Toole 71 71 74, Cristie Kerr 74 69 73
217 Brooke Henderson (Can) 74 69 74, Alexis Thompson 74 69 74, Sung-Hyun Park (Kor) 73 73 71, Yu Liu (Chn) 70 70 77, Xiyu Lin (Chn) 72 70 75, Stephanie Meadow (NIrl) 71 75 71, Mariah Stackhouse 69 74 74, Jaclyn Lee (Can) 74 71 72
218 Georgia Hall (Eng) 74 72 72, Jane Park 70 76 72, Sarah Kemp (Aus) 72 72 74
219 Jenny Shin (Kor) 74 72 73, Annie Park 71 72 76, Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 74 70 75, Stacy Lewis 71 73 75, Sarah Schmelzel 71 74 74, Tiffany Joh 73 71 75, Lindsey Weaver 72 74 73, Haley Moore 75 71 73
220 Laura Davies (Eng) 75 69 76, Cydney Clanton 74 72 74, Daniela Darquea (Ecu) 72 74 74, Dana Finkelstein 75 70 75, Wichanee Meechai (Tha) 73 73 74
221 Mi-Jung Hur (Kor) 69 72 80, Eun-Hee Ji (Kor) 75 70 76, Daniela Holmqvist (Swe) 70 76 75
222 Yealimi Noh 74 72 76, Mina Harigae 74 71 77
