Molinari and Westwood Pull Away From Field At HSBC Champions
- By Dorian Netolicky on November 7, 2010 01:13 GMTShooting identical 67’s, Francesco Molinari continues to lead Lee Westwood by a shot through 54 holes in Shanghai. The leading pair shared the low round of the day with Englishman Paul Casey and South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel. Molinari now sits at 14-under and is four clear of third place Luke Donald.
The scores may have been identical but Molinari’s round certainly didn’t take the same path as his playing partner. The 27-year old Italian was just 2-under for the day stepping to the tee on the par-4 13th hole where he canned his approach from the fairway for an eagle. He proceeded to knock in a birdie on 18 to post 67 for the day. Westwood, meanwhile, was less spectacular but played a superbly clean round to finish with 5 birdies and no bogies on his card.
World #2, Tiger Woods, continued to stagnate on day three shooting 1-over as his putter remained asleep in China. Tiger now sits at 3-under for the tournament, while fellow American and ‘#1 hopeful’ stumbled with a 76 and is even through three rounds. Martin Kaymer, the only other man in the field with a shot at replacing Westwood at the top of the rankings, sits 27th at 1-under.
The bookmakers have Westwood and Molinari with identical lines to win. At 2.10, the pair are the prohibitive betting favourites well ahead third place Luke Donald at 9.00. Going from a reasonable bet yesterday to being off the betting board going into the final round, Tiger Woods is almost assuredly going to spend at least a few more weeks looking up at Westwood in the world rankings.
It’s going to take a round in the mid to low 60’s to catch Molinari and Westwood on Sunday, but with a field of this caliber it’s not unthinkable. With Donald, Els and Ross Fisher within half a dozen shots, there is plenty of talent within striking distance. However, if the leaders put up anything like their 65’s in round three, expect this to remain a two horse race right to the finish.
Golf is deceptively simple and endlessly complicated - Arnold Palmer
