Renato Paratore took a 1 shot lead into Day 3 of the Betfred British Masters while tournament host Lee Westwood just about made the cut. Paratore continued his bogey-free form with a 5under 66 to hold a 1 shot lead over Dale Whitnell and Justin Walters. Englishman Dale Whitnell eagled his penultimate hole to take him one shot away from leader Paratore. Overnight leader David law moved down the leaderboard into 4th place. Tournament host, Lee Westwood just made the cut following a level-par 71.
“It felt really good today,” said Paratore. “I played really solid, especially the short game. I saved some shots when I needed it, so I’m very happy with my game.” He birdied the 2nd hole of the day and then followed it up with 2 birdies at the par-5 7th and 10th hole. He then birdied the 14th hole as well as the 17th to set the target in the clubhouse.
Harding threatened the outright lead after birdieing four of his first five holes and adding others at the seventh and ninth to turn in 29, before ending a run of pars with back-to-back gains from the 16th. Whitnell almost joined Paratore but left his putt on the 18th just short of the target. The top 25 players in the tournament are just 5 strokes from each other. Former US Open champion Michael Campbell missed the cut despite rolling back the years with an opening-round 68, as the 51-year-old struggled to a nine-over 80 on Friday morning.
