Akron, Ohio: A bogey at the par-four last failed to wipe the smile from Luke Donald`s face after the British world number one charged into contention at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational on Saturday.
Donald regained his customary excellent form on the greens after two frustrating days at Firestone Country Club to climb into a tie for sixth place with a superb six-under-par 64 in the third round.
"It`s nice to get in position," the Briton told reporters after posting a nine-under total of 201 to trail pacesetting Australian Adam Scott by three strokes. "I putted a lot better today.”
"That was really the only difference between today and the first two days. I`ve been swinging it nicely, hitting a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. Today I was able to get the putter rolling and hole a few putts."
Donald, who totaled just 26 putts on Firestone`s pure greens Saturday, felt his ball-striking had been close to his best over the first three rounds."Tee to green, this is as solid as I`ve played for a while," he said. "I hit the ball quite well at the Scottish (Open), but the last three days have been very solid in terms of greens and fairways."
Donald, who clinched the biggest title of his career at the elite WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona in February, shrugged off his bogey at the tricky par-four last on Saturday.
"I`m not going to think about 18 too much," he said, after finding the left rough off the tee and missing the green to the right with his approach. "It`s a tough driving hole.”
"I`m going to concentrate on all the good things I did today. That`s only two bogeys for the whole week, so around a course that`s pretty tight and tough as this place can be, that`s pretty good."
A three-times winner on the PGA Tour who clinched his sixth European Tour title at last month`s Scottish Open, Donald predicted a final-round shootout at Firestone where overnight rain has been forecast."I expect more of the same," the 33-year-old said. "The course isn`t going to change too much. If we get some rain, it`ll just soften it up even more.”
"But I expect scores to be reasonably low, and people are going to have to go out there and make some birdies. Hopefully I can continue to keep giving myself a lot of opportunities, which I have done."
Bureau Report
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