The pendulum swung back and forth in the contest to be World Number One with Lee Westwood putting himself in contention and Luke Donald clawing his way back from a torrid start at Wentworth Club.
Donald started the third round five strokes ahead of Westwood in the knowledge that whoever finishes highest this week will be World Number One on Sunday night, but his challenge looked to be unravelling with five dropped shots in the first six holes.
Westwood, meanwhile, was making up ground with three birdies and just one dropped shot in the same stretch and when Westwood picked up a fourth birdie of the day on the 11th he was ahead of his rival to the Number One spot. Westwood dropped a shot coming in but his 69 on a tough day for scoring at Wentworth put him right up amongst the leaders at three under par.
But Donald battled back with back-to-back birdies on the 11th and 12th and another brace on the 16th and 17th to lie two ahead of Westwood as he played the last. He found trouble off the tee but managed to chip out and hole a 20 foot putt for par to finish tied for the lead at five under par.
The gap between the top two in the World Rankings is just 0.050 points and with Kaymer unlikely to win or finish second after a third round 72 left him tied 41st, the race to be Number One is a straight fight between Donald and Westwood.
But there’s a certain 18 year old – Matteo Manassero – who is tied for the lead with Donald going into the final round and who could yet upstage the World’s top two players.
