Golf:Rory Sabbatini maintained his flying form at a windswept Palm Beach to establish a five-shot lead heading into the final round of the Honda Classic in Florida.

The South African, seeking his first victory in almost two years, shot a 66 over Saturday's third round to move to nine under overall - comfortably clear of nearest challengers Y.E. Yang and Jerry Kelly.

Sabbatini has been peerless since firing a 71 on the opening day, stringing together two rounds of masterful play that have brought 12 birdies, just the one bogey, and a course-record 64 on Friday which first vaulted him into contention.

Kelly and 2009 champion Yang are tied for second place at four under, while Gary Woodland is one shot further back and overnight leader Kyle Stanley is alone in fifth place at two under.

Charles Howell III, Matt Bettencourt, Tommy Gainey and Ricky Barnes are the only other players under par after three punishing days where winds of 20-30mph have affected scores.

Early starter, Rory McIlroy, saw his hopes fade fast, while Graeme McDowell merely treaded water at Palm Beach Gardens.

The Ulstermen were both 10 shots off Kyle Stanley’s overnight lead this morning but their challenge never materialised.

"I guess that's why they call it the bear trap," tweeted McIlroy afterwards. "Played nice for 15 holes, I'll forget about the other three."

The three he was referring to were back-to-back double bogeys from 15. He was one over for his round before dropping those six shots, having birdied the 13th after bogeys on the fourth and sixth.

However, a 77 dropped him back to 11-over-par and a tie for 65th.

McDowell remained on four over after his best round of the week so far, a level par 70, despite a treble bogey at the par five third.

There was another dropped shot at the 12th, but birdies at the first, sixth, 11th and 18th ensured he made it back to square one.

A birdie at the last for Ian Poulter was the only joy he got out of his round of 73, which saw him drop to eight over.

Lee Westwood saw his hopes of displacing Martin Kaymer at the top of the world rankings evaporate over a miserable third round as his five-over 75 dropped him to four over - eight shots away from the top-three finish that would usurp the German.

Like so many of his rivals, Westwood failed to get to grip with the blustery weather, and a total of seven bogeys have all but ended his hopes.

Collated third-round scores and totals (USA unless stated, par 70):

201

Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 64 66

206

Jerry Kelly 71 67 68, Y.E. Yang (Kor) 68 71 67

207

Gary Woodland 71 68 68

208

Kyle Stanley 68 66 74

209

Ricky Barnes 70 68 71, Matt Bettencourt 70 70 69, Tommy Gainey 71 67 71, Charles Howell III 71 71 67

210

Jeff Overton 69 72 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 68 70 72

211

Justin Leonard 70 71 70, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 68 69 74, Roland Thatcher 70 73 68, Matt Kuchar 69 70 72

212

Spencer Levin 67 72 73, Kent Jones 72 71 69, Davis Love III 73 70 69, Scott Gutschewski 73 70 69, Hunter Haas 70 71 71, Webb Simpson 74 67 71, Hiroyuki Fujita (Jpn) 72 71 69

213

Nathan Green (Aus) 73 67 73, Sean O'Hair 70 70 73, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 68 71, Colt Knost 74 69 70, Marc Leishman (Aus) 72 72 69, Jimmy Walker 74 67 72, Luke Donald (Eng) 73 68 72

214

Chris Kirk 73 70 71, Josh Broadaway 78 68 68, Chad Campbell 74 70 70, Justin Hicks 73 68 73, Jason Dufner 75 67 72,

Graeme McDowell 73 71 70

, Lee Westwood (Eng) 70 69 75

215

J J Henry 71 70 74, Richard S Johnson (Swe) 72 71 72, Robert Allenby (Aus) 71 73 71, John Senden (Aus) 70 71 74, Chris Couch 70 70 75, Cameron Tringale 71 70 74

216

Kenny Perry 71 72 73, Brian Gay 74 70 72, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 68 72 76, Ben Curtis 72 74 70, Carl Pettersson (Swe) 70 71 75, Alex Cejka (Ger) 71 74 71

217

Paul Goydos 73 72 72, Shaun Micheel 74 71 72, Nick Price (Zim) 70 74 73, William McGirt 75 70 72

218

Vaughn Taylor 71 75 72, Chad Collins 74 72 72, David Mathis 71 72 75, Ian Poulter (Eng) 74 71 73, Kevin Streelman 73 71 74, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 73 73 72, Blake Adams 73 73 72

219

Chris Stroud 73 69 77, Alex Prugh 74 71 74, Stephen Ames (Can) 73 72 74

220

Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 75 70 75, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 74 70 76

221

Brendan Steele 74 71 76,

Rory McIlroy 73 71 77

, Jeff Maggert 75 70 76, Andres Romero (Arg) 72 74 75

222

D.A. Points 74 72 76, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 74 71 77, J.P. Hayes 76 69 77, David Duval 74 71 77, Marc Turnesa 75 71 76

223

Jhonattan Vegas 76 70 77

224

Steve Flesch 73 73 78, Ernie Els (Rsa) 75 71 78, Josh Teater 75 70 79