July 7 (Reuters) – World number three Lee Westwood hurt his
leg and slid out of contention at the French Open while fellow
Briton David Howell and Dane Anders Hansen grabbed a share of
the lead after a weather-interrupted third round on Saturday.
Westwood slipped and injured his groin walking to the first
tee while talking to playing partner Richard Sterne’s caddie
before dropping seven shots in his first six holes en-route to a
five-over-par 76.
The Englishman was 12 shots behind Howell (67) and Hansen
(69) who finished on six-under 207, a stroke ahead of South
African George Coetzee (70) and two in front of Frenchman
Raphael Jacquelin (70) and German Marcel Siem (73).
“I felt like I strained something in my groin in the right
leg and just tweaked my right knee as well. I didn’t really have
a lot of confidence in it,” Westwood told reporters.
“I tried not to overdo it on the first few holes and I lost
everything down the right,” added Westwood who also suffered an
injury to his right calf and ankle in Paris in 2010.
“This tournament has been a curse for me the last few times
I’ve played it.”
Fellow Englishman Howell is within sight of a first European
Tour victory since 2006 after firing a four-under round in
testing conditions that caused a 35-minute stoppage to let a
thunderstorm pass.
“The confidence is building by the day and today’s round was
important for me. To play such a nice round, I was very pleased
for my confidence,” added the four-times European Tour winner
who is now down at 350 in the world rankings.
Howell reached the top 10 six years ago following wins at
the Champions Tournament in China in 2005, where he outscored
playing partner Tiger Woods, and at the PGA Championship at
Wentworth.
Hansen, twice winner of the PGA Championship, is seeking his
fourth career victory.
Three strokes off the pace on Saturday were Ryder Cup player
Ian Poulter and former world number four Henrik Stenson.
(Writing by Tom Pilcher editing by Tony Jimenez)
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