• Open de France, Round Three

Donald maintains chase as Canizares capitulates

Lee Westwood parred the final nine holes © Getty Images

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Lee Westwood seemed troubled by his Achilles problem as he slipped out of contention on day three of the Open de France, falling six shots behind overall leader Martin Kaymer.

It was a disappointing day for the majority of the field's top-10 players as Ian Poulter and Rory McIlroy also failed to chase down the leader, leaving Steve Webster and Luke Donald as the highest-placed Britons. Donald will begin the final round two strokes off the pace, while Webster has only one shot to make up.

Alejandro Canizares had led for 17 holes of Saturday's round, having sank birdie putts from five and seven feet on holes one and three. However, he then bogeyed the par-four fifth after finding the bunker, and another at 16 left him with his worst round of the tournament. Clearly troubled by the fact he had only achieved level-par through 17, the Spaniard went big on the final hole and only succeeded in finding the water, leaving with a double-bogey for a two-over-par 73 that sees him slip to eight-under for the tournament.

As a result, Germany's Martin Kaymer is the new leader on nine-under, one stroke ahead of Canizares and Webster. Australia's Adam Scott had earlier threatened to steal a march at the top of the leaderboard as he bagged a hat-trick of birdies to hit the turn in 32. However, a bogey at the 10th was followed by double-bogeys at 12 and 15 as Scott fell way off the pace on four-under.

Kaymer was unspectacular as he quietly emerged on top of the pack, despite failing to match his opening two scores of 66 and 67. The German bogeyed holes one and five, but he also found two birdies ahead of the turn, before parring all nine holes on his way back to the clubhouse. Webster sits one stroke adrift, having recovered from a double-bogey at the second to card a one-under 70.

Donald enjoyed a hugely profitable back nine to keep himself in contention, holing four birdies to recover from a shaky start . Two bogeys in the first seven holes threatened to ruin the world's No. 7's weekend, but he takes more momentum than most into the final round after carding his best score of the tournament to tie for fourth.

Miguel Angel Jimenez is also part of a group of six players on seven-under after he shot a five-under 66, including seven birdies. Damien McGrane, Francesco Molinari and Robert-Jan Derksen join Jimenez, Donald and Randhawa two shots behind Kaymer.

Poulter and Westwood both finished on level-par for the day to remain on three-under for the tournament, while McIlroy dipped two under the course target to move four shots behind Kaymer going into the final day.

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