Schwartzel closes in on Westwood

Lee Westwood saw his huge advantage in the inaugural Thailand Golf Championship reduced to four shots following the third round, with South African Charl Schwartzel leading the chasing pack with a second successive 66.

Westwood had boasted an 11-stroke lead at the start of the day but he could not continue his stunning form as he carded a disappointing one-over-par 73 at the Amata Spring Country Club to slip back to 19 under for the tournament.

That allowed Schwartzel to significantly close on the Englishman after he recorded another round of 66.

Westwood had made the first 60 of his career on day one and then followed it up with a similarly impressive 64 on Friday, but the Worksop golfer found it much tougher going on Saturday.

After not dropping a single shot in the opening two rounds, he suffered a bogey on the par-five second. He also bogeyed the sixth but birdies at the fourth, 11th and 15th saw Westwood heading for another sub-par round. However, the 38-year-old then dropped further shots at both the 16th and 17th before closing with a par.

While Westwood, whose round was the worst of the 17 leading players, struggled to replicate his earlier success, Schwartzel took up the charge in stunning fashion.

This year's Masters winner downed four successive birdies from the second hole and then added three more on the back nine.

It might have been an even better day for the South African but he bogeyed the par-four 18th - his only dropped shot of the round.

Three shots behind Schwartzel in third place on the leaderboard was American Michael Thompson after his 69, with Dutchman Guido Van der Valk two shots further back on 10 under.

England's Simon Dyson is fifth on nine under while former Asian Tour number one Jyoti Randhawa of India is sixth on eight under following his round of 65.