Casey maintains four stroke advantage

Britain's Paul Casey took a four-shot lead into the final round of the Madrid Open after finishing in the twilight on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Englishman was at the Club de Campo course early to complete his second round, following the previous day's unfinished play due to frost, and set a 14-under target.

That gave him a four-stroke lead at the halfway stage.

Casey, aiming for his third European Tour title of the season, then had to hold concentration on a grey and wet afternoon to preserve his lead.

Two Australians, veteran Peter Fowler and lefthander Nick O'Hern, and former British Open champion Paul Lawrie are tied for second.

Casey, and Lawrie just managed to finish before the light went and the leader was happy to get a lie-in before the final round.

"I really didn't want to get up early in the morning again," said Casey. "I'm feeling really tired because I've got up early every day but one this week.

"It was really dark but I wanted to finish, and the last three holes were damage-limitation, if I dropped a shot then so be it."

Casey could have let his advantage slip when he repeated his first nine feat of running in back-to-back bogeys on the incoming holes, but everyone else suffered at some stage and he kept his calm.

"I hit two trees on the back nine and a television tower and I didn't know where I was at one stage," said Casey.

He had set himself a goal of 10-under-par for the final two rounds but, because of the threat of further bad weather, settled for "a nice sub-par round to finish."

Fowler, 44, harmed his chances of a first victory for 10 years with a closing bogey in the gloom, while compatriot O'Hern, seeking a maiden European title, birdied the last two holes.

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