VIRGINIA WATER: World No. 2 Luke Donald recovered from a torrid start to claim a share of the lead with Italian teenager Matteo Manassero after the PGA Championship third round Saturday. The Briton, normally so steady from tee to green, sprayed the ball all over Wentworth's West Course as he dropped five shots in the opening six holes. Donald though battled his way back brilliantly with a flawless four-birdie back nine giving him a one-over-par 72 and a five-under tally of 208. Manassero, 18, the hottest young prospect in golf, continued to show maturity beyond his years as he finished with nine straight pars on another tough day for scoring to return a matching 72. World No. 1 Lee Westwood produced his second consecutive 69 to tie for third position with little-known Paraguayan Fabrizio Zanotti (69) on 210. “I am edging my way up there,” Westwood told reporters. “This is the kind of course where you have to do that. “It has that feel of a major championship where you are just hanging around, trying not to make too many mistakes. It's not the kind of course where anybody was going to run away with it.” Zanotti strung together seven successive threes in the middle of his round, a record for the European Tour's flagship event. Garcia and Palmer lead Sergio Garcia ignored the gusting winds to stay on track for his first PGA Tour title in three years by firing a four-under-par 66 in Friday's second round of the Byron Nelson Championship in Irving, Texas. Despite playing in the most difficult weather conditions of the day, the 31-year-old Spaniard was rock-solid from tee to green and putted superbly to join American Ryan Palmer (67) in a tie for the lead at eight-under 132. Next best at five under were Americans Tim Petrovic (66) and Scott Piercy (69), a stroke in front of compatriots Nick Watney (68), Joe Ogilvie (70) and Chad Collins (69). Garcia, who won the most recent of his seven PGA Tour titles at the 2008 Players Championship, teed off in the afternoon when the winds had strengthened considerably from the morning.Although he dropped a shot at the par-four third, he produced flawless golf thereafter, including a chip-in for birdie from just off the green at the par-four 15th. Garcia, who has switched to a claw grip this season to improve his notoriously erratic putting, totaled only 27 putts on firming greens as the wind gusted up to 35 mph (56 kph). Local favorite Palmer, who had made only one cut in his seven previous starts in the PGA Tour event, set the clubhouse pace with a 67 after setting off in the morning. The gusts intensified as the 34-year-old American reached the turn at the TPC Four Seasons Resort Las Colinas and he safely negotiated the homeward nine in level-par 35. One of the most impressive displays of the day came from 17-year-old American amateur Jordan Spieth who carded a 68 for a three-under total on the eve of his graduation from high school. The cut fell at three-over 143 with former major champions Mike Weir, Justin Leonard and Steve Elkington, plus 2007 Byron Nelson winner Scott Verplank, failing to advance.
