Westwood extends lead to six shots

Lee Westwood continued his march to Scandinavian Masters glory - moving serenely into a six-shot lead as the chasing pack failed to threaten his dominance at Kungsängen, Stockholm.

After his spectacular opening rounds of 63 and 67, this was to be a slightly less eventful 18 holes for the 27-year-old and he finsihed up with a two-under-par 69.

The world number seven made a disappointing start with a bogey at the very first hole of his third round and playing partner Barry Lane got within one shot, but dropped shots 4th, 6th and 7th curtailed the 40-year-old's challenge.

Westwood’s approach shots to the green were strangely off target and more often than not, he was holing putts for par rather than birdie.

The Worksop-born player birdied the fifth to reach 11-under-par once again but with Lane dropping down the leaderboard, Holland's Maarten Lafeber emerged as the only man to briefly threaten Westwood’s superiority.

Lafeber birdied the 5th, 8th and 9th to go out in 34 and reach eleven-under-par but back-to-back bogeys at the 13th and 14th halted his charge.

A further birdie followed at the 17th for the Englishman - his third this week - while Lafeber bogeyed the last for a 72. And so the lead was six as parallels with Tiger Woods' victory in the British and US Open were beginning to be drawn.

The next nearest challengers were in a group on seven under that contained New Zealander Michael Campbell, American Tom Gillis and Denmark's Steen Tinning all in the clubhouse.

Meanwhile Montgomerie had finished with a 70 to lie four under par. Darren Clarke, who like Westwood, could top the Order of Merit on Sunday night, could only muster a 74 which left him on four-under-par.

However, his close friend remains firmly on course to register his fourth tour win of the year.

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