Westwood powers into 1-shot lead at Abu Dhabi Championship

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Lee Westwood, chasing his 25th European Tour win, moved into a one-shot lead after the third round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on Saturday.

Westwood carded a seven-under 65, including an eagle on the par-five eighth, to move to 14-under for the tournament.

“I didn’t play a lot of golf coming in, didn’t know what to expect. To be in the lead with one round to go, it’s a real positive,” the Englishman said.

“I’m just going to go out there and play as well as I can and if it’s good enough, then great. I know I’m talented enough to win the tournament, it’s just a case of applying myself.”

Bernd Wiesberger and second-round leader Francesco Laporta are one shot off the lead, with Matthew Fitzpatrick a shot further back on 12-under. Sergio Garcia and Kurt Kitayama are on 11-under.

The top-ranked Brooks Koepka recovered from a poor round on Friday to fire a two-under 70 and is tied for 48th, nine shots off the lead.

It’s Koepka’s first tournament since returning from a knee injury he aggravated in October when he slipped while walking off the tee at the CJ Cup in South Korea. He previously had stem cell treatment for a partially torn tendon in his patella.

Li Haotong started two shots off the lead but the Chinese golfer’s challenge fell apart with a quadruple bogey on the par-four 11th and he finished the day on six-under for the tournament.