Colin Montgomerie pulled three shots clear of the field when he completed his third round Wentworth Club early this morning in his bid to win the Volvo PGA Championship for a record third successive year.
Europe’s Number One for the past seven seasons returned to the course at 7.30am with five holes left to play. With birdies at the 16th and the 18th he moved to 14 under par, three clear of Scotland’s Andrew Coltart who also birdied the 18th early this morning.
Lee Westwood also continued his charge by picking up birdies on the last two holes to complete a magnificent seven under par back nine of 30. Indeed he was eight under par for his last 11 holes to catapult himself right back into contention at ten under par.
“It was vital I finished with two birdies,” said Westwood. “At eight under I was probably too far back. At ten under I’m right back in there. I think Monty is still favourite but anything can happen. I was out of the tournament at two under unless I shot something special. Fortunately I did.”
Montgomerie was leading by two after the first two rounds but increased the gap to three with a birdie on the last, his 20 foot eagle putt just coming up short. Nevertheless he is in prime position to claim the £250,000 first prize.
He said: “Considering that the third round didn’t go to plan, that is okay to gain a shot. I was two ahead to start the round and set off with a crazy three putt and then didn’t quite get going. But I played well this morning. But to be two ahead at the start of the day and now three ahead, that’s progress.”
His nearest challenger is now Coltart who shot a second successive 69 to move to 11 under. “I’ll take that,” he said. “I had to get something out of the holes this morning, so I'm pleased with that.”
Sergio Garcia completed a round of 68 to move to nine under par alongside left-hander Richard Green with Darren Clarke (72) and Philip Price (69) a further shot adrift.
The final round got underway at 10.20am with the leaders going out at 12.30.
