Lee Westwood tied for the low round of the day on Friday. Now, a strong start to his round on Saturday has him atop the British Open leaderboard.
Westwood began the day at 2-under, but dropped a shot with a bogey at No. 3. He had a good opportunity to get a stroke back at the Par 5 fifth hole and did one even better. Westwood hit a driver off the green, then another driver off the deck from the middle of the fairway to come up just short of the green. He decided to putt the ball from the fringe and it turned out to be an excellent decision as he rolled in the long, breaking putt for an eagle.
The putt jumped him into sole possession of the lead at 3-under, one stroke ahead of Tiger Woods. Westwood added another birdie on No. 7 to move to 4-under overall and take a three-stroke lead.
Woods led at 3-under earlier in the round, but a bogey at No. 4 dropped him back to even on the day and 2-under overall. He had a chance to match Westwood with a birdie at No. 4, but missed his putt low. His tee shot at No. 7 went long and over the green leaving a difficult up-and-down. Woods was unable to make his par putt and dropped to 1-under overall.
Just five players are under par for the tournament. Twelve players are within five strokes of the lead, including Phil Mickelson (even-par), Hunter Mahan (1-over) and Adam Scott (1-over). Here is a look at the top of the leaderboard.
Place | Player | Score | Thru |
1 | Lee Westwood | -3 | 6 |
T2 | Angel Cabrera | -1 | 9 |
T2 | Tiger Woods | -1 | 7 |
T2 | Miguel A. Jimenez | -1 | 5 |
T2 | Henrik Stenson | -1 | 5 |
T6 | Phil Mickelson | E | 13 |
T6 | Rafael Cabrera-Bello | E | 8 |
T6 | Zach Johnson | E | 8 |
T9 | Hideki Matsuyama | 1 | 14 |
T9 | Hunter Mahan | 1 | 13 |
T9 | Justin Leonard | 1 | 13 |
T9 | Adam Scott | 1 | 10 |
T13 | Jason Day | 2 | 13 |
T13 | Darren Clarke | 2 | 10 |
T13 | Jordan Spieth | 2 | 9 |
T13 | Dustin Johnson | 2 | 7 |
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