Golf: Solid start for Westwood in Shanghai

Lee WESTWOOD continued his pursuit of leader Francesco Molinari at the World Golf Championships in Shanghai with both players making solid starts to their third rounds.

Starting the day eight under par and one stroke behind Molinari, Westwood began in ideal fashion with a birdie at the first that the Italian matched. Molinari then bogeyed the fourth to drop into a share of the lead with his English opponent but quickly rectified his mistake with another birdie at the fifth.

Both players then picked up another shot at the eighth, Molinari moving to 11 under par and Westwood one stroke behind. The pair had started to pull away from the rest of the field with Ross Fisher, Luke Donald, Scotland's Richie Ramsay and Jaco van Zyl leading the chase on seven under.

Tiger Woods, meanwhile, had fallen back to three under par as three bogeys on his outward nine hindered the former world No. 1.