Verizon Heritage:Brian Gay strengthened his lead at the Verizon Heritage in South Carolina as Luke Donald made his move onto the leaderboard at Harbour Town Golf Links. The Englishman set the leaders a target after shooting a third-round, six-under-par 65 having spent the second round trying to ensure he would make the cut.

Donald had opened the tournament on Hilton Head Island with a two-over 73 and carded a 70 on Friday to progress to the weekend at one over par, two strokes inside the cut line.

There was a big improvement on Saturday, though, as Donald, taking advantage of calm conditions on the Atlantic coast, opened with a birdie and then bounced back from a bogey at the par-four third hole to hole six more birdies and move to five under for the tournament.

That left the European Ryder Cup player four shots in arrears of the overnight lead held by Gay, and the American, despite toughening wind conditions, increased his advantage to three shots over the field with a third-round 67 that took him to 13 under par.

He will start the final round confident he can post another low score and register his second win on the US PGA Tour following a maiden victory at last year’s Mayakoba Golf Classic in Cancun, Mexico

“Another good day,” Gay said. “I continued to drive it well and hit the ball well. I think if I can go out and continue to do the same things, I’ll be in pretty good shape.

“Anybody can go low at any time, but I feel like the way I’m swinging and playing, I can go out there and shoot another score.”

Australia’s Tim Wilkinson matched Donald’s 65 to move into second place on 10 under while Lee Janzen improved by two strokes with a 69 to take third place at nine under and former Open champion Todd Hamilton, who began the day a shot behind Gay on eight under, shot a level 71 and fell to fourth place heading into the final round.

Fellow Americans Briny Baird and Davis Love III lie in a tie for fifth, the former also shooting a 65, while Tim Petrovic, Tom Lehman and Germany’s Alex Cejka are tied for seventh on six under.

Donald is one of three players tied for 10th place on five under alongside Argentina’s Jose Coceres and Bob Estes of the US, while Spain’s Jose Maria Olazabal is at four under following a third-round 70.

Ernie Els took a six at the par-four ninth and a seven at the par-five 15th on the way to a 73 while Paul Casey finished on a high with an eagle three at the 15th to help him to a 69 and take the Englishman to one under with the South African.

Rory McIlroy continued to find Harbour Town a struggle on his debut, shooting a one-over 72 to finish at two over in a week where he has yet to break par.

The 19-year-old got off to a dream start with birdies at the first two holes, but he came unstuck at the two par-threes on the front nine, carding a bogey and a double-bogey to turn in one-over. A birdie on the 11th got him back to level for the round, before he bogeyed the 13th and made par on the run-in.

THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD
(USA unless stated, par 71):
200Brian Gay 67 66 67
203Tim Wilkinson (Nzl) 71 67 65
204Lee Janzen 65 70 69
205Todd Hamilton 68 66 71
206Davis Love III 70 67 69, Briny Baird 69 72 65
207Tim Petrovic 68 70 69, Tom Lehman 70 69 68, Alex Cejka (Ger) 64 71 72
208Bob Estes 68 71 69, Jose Coceres (Arg) 74 67 67, Luke Donald (Eng) 73 70 65
209Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 68 71 70, Jeff Maggert 68 75 66, Woody Austin 70
73 66, Bo Van Pelt 73 70 66, Matt Weibring 70 70 69
210Spencer Levin 72 72 66, Rodney Pampling (Aus) 68 68 74, Ted Purdy 67 71 72,
Heath Slocum 72 68 70, Nick O'Hern (Aus) 72 70 68, Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 75 68
67, Justin Leonard 70 73 67, Ken Duke 69 70 71
211Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 71 69 71, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 70 68 73, Charley
Hoffman 70 69 72, Zach Johnson 70 71 70, Peter Lonard (Aus) 72 71 68, Charlie Wi
(Kor) 71 70 70, Steve Marino 71 73 67, Nathan Green (Aus) 70 71 70, Trevor
Immelman (Rsa) 66 74 71, Brett Quigley 72 72 67, Dean Wilson 69 74 68, Shaun
Micheel 72 68 71, Boo Weekley 69 72 70, Scott Verplank 72 66 73, Tim Clark (Rsa)
72 70 69
212Vaughn Taylor 71 72 69, Jason Dufner 70 73 69, Lucas Glover 74 68 70, Steve
Lowery 73 71 68, Chris Couch 73 69 70, Tommy Armour III 70 68 74, Paul Casey
(Eng) 73 70 69, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 71 73, Tommy Gainey 71 68 73
213Brad Adamonis 74 68 71, Greg Kraft 72 72 69, Charles Howell III 69 74 70,
George McNeill 71 71 71, Ben Crane 73 69 71, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 76 68 69,
Camilo Villegas (Col) 70 72 71, Nicholas Thompson 73 71 69
214Aron Price (Aus) 68 73 73, Bill Lunde 73 69 72, Colt Knost 74 68 72, Scott
Piercy 69 70 75, Matt Kuchar 71 70 73, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 68 74 72, Stewart
Cink 72 70 72, Greg Owen (Eng) 69 71 74, Michael Allen 72 72 70
215 Rory McIlroy(NIrl) 72 71 72, Joe Durant 73 71 71, Mathew Goggin (Aus) 73
70 72, Mark Wilson 72 69 74
216Jonathan Byrd 70 73 73
217Brendon De Jonge 72 72 73, Chris DiMarco 72 71 74, Cliff Kresge 68 75 74
219Robert Garrigus 70 74 75
218Michael Letzig 73 71 74
220Will MacKenzie 73 71 76, Glen Day 71 73 76