Lee Westwood, arguably the best player never to win a major, will take a two stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round at The Open Championship.
The 40-year-old Westwood just needs to hold the lead for 18 more holes and he will get his first major win. The problem is that he’s been down this winding road before and he has never made it in first place to the clubhouse.
Westwood holds a 54-hole lead at a major event for just the second time in his career. He led by one shot after three rounds at the 2010 Masters and shot a final-round 71, but finished second to Phil Mickelson, who passed him with a Sunday 67.
Westwood leads Americans Tiger Woods and Hunter Mahan by two, and they are the only three players under-par in the tournament after another testing round at Muirfield. Adam Scott, who last year led by four with four holes to play before crumbling down, is in solo fourth at even-par.
Westwood played alongside Woods today and he outplayed the World’s No. 1 by one shot today. Westwood shot one-under while Woods played at one-over for the day. It seemed like a mano-a-mano play for most of the day between them as they exchanged leads during the round.
Woods and Westwood began the day trailing Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez by one shot. Woods got to the top of the leaderboard for the first time in the tournament after he birdied the Par-4 second and Jimenez made bogey leaving Woods on top by one shot over Westwood and Jimenez, who would fall apart and out of contention with three bogeys in his next six holes.
Westwood made a bogey on the third hole to fall two shots behind, but Woods gave one away with a bogey of his own on the fourth. Then came the key hole for Westwood in the day, the Par-5 fifth. Westwood took a driver off the fairway for his second shot and then holed a long, curving, rolling putt from off the front of the green for an eagle to take the outright lead at three-under.
On the Par-3 seventh, Westwood made birdie while Woods would play it sloppy a made a from over the back, giving Westwood three-shot lead. But things would level off again at two-under after Westwood made consecutive bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes, while Woods made birdie at the ninth.
After exchanging pars through the 13th hole, Westwood took the lead again at three under with a birdie on the 14th but pulled his tee shot into thick rough on the short 16th and could only hack out short of the green. He putted up the bank to 15 feet, but crucially slotted the putt to escape with just a bogey to slip back alongside Woods at two-under.
But after Woods found a bunker and made a sloppy bogey on the long 17th, Westwood secured a clutch birdie-putt and was back in front of Woods by two from Woods and then clubhouse leader Mahan.
Woods still had a chance to cut the lead to one on the 18th hole, but had to settle for a par, remaining two shots behind Westwood heading into Sunday. Woods has never won a major when he hasn't been leading going into the final round.
Woods has not been this close through 54 holes of a major since his life imploded nearly four years ago. This is his best chance since to win the 15th major of his career and first in five years. To many his return to the top is not complete without another major win, and in a sense you feel like he really needs it.
On the interview after the round Woods said that: "I'm looking forward to the challenge of it. I've been in this position before in the past five years, and I've been in the hunt. And I'm in it again. Hopefully tomorrow I can play well and win the tournament.''
Meanwhile Westwood insisted on the press conference that although he has never won one, he "knows how to win a major". He is as straight forward as it can be, and certainly never lacks confidence.
He said: "I'm not in a high-pressure situation because I'm going to go have dinner, and I'm so good with a knife and fork now that I don't feel any pressure at all," adding later that: "I'll think about winning the Open Championship at some stage, I'm sure. I don't see anything wrong with that, picture yourself holding the Claret Jug and seeing your name at the top of the leaderboard. When it comes to tee-off around three-ish, I should be in the same frame of mind as I was today. I felt nice and calm out there and in control of what I was doing."
Hunter Mahan, who is also looking for his first major win, matched the low round of the day at three-under ensuring that he will be the one on the final pairing with Westwood.
After a mini-slump he has been progressively improving on his way to the top. At the US Open at Merion a few weeks ago, he was again in the final pairing with Phil Mickelson and was still locked in a three-way tie with both his compatriot and the eventual champion, Justin Rose, with just three to play. Unfortunately, a double-bogey followed by back-to-back bogeys eventually resulted in him slipping to five-over and a T-4th finish.
Adam Scott, sitting in solo fourth at even-par, will be looking for some redemption tomorrow. “Yeah, I think honestly I haven’t flashed back since Akron last year,” Scott said, referring to the tournament immediately following his Open collapse.
But the 34-year-old Masters champion, could draw from his winning experience The Masters and with some help from the players in front of him, he could end up winning his second major of the year. He goes out in the penultimate group alongside Woods.
Rounding out the Top 10 are: Ryan Moore, Angel Cabrera, Zach Johnson and Henrik Stenson (T-5th, one-over; Phil Mickelson and Francesco Molinari (T-9th, two-over).
This leaderboard, one of the classiest leaderboards you'll ever see. Of the top 17 players, there are three multiple major winners, five major winners and 13 Ryder or President Cuppers. Sunday at Muirfield is setting up for an epic closing act.