American Cristie Kerr increased her lead to two strokes despite dropping a shot to par midway through the third round of the US Women's Open golf championship on Saturday. Kerr, the 2007 champion, began the round with a one-shot lead and went three clear before bogeying the par-three ninth after landing in rough short of the green to stand two under par for the championship at Saucon Valley. Compatriot Jean Reynolds, a 24-year-old Futures Tour player, was alone in second at level par, one stroke ahead of fellow American Paula Creamer and Choi Na-yeon of South Korea, who moved up with a three-foot birdie at the 10th. Winds were picking up ahead of an approaching storm, further challenging the players on the long, fast 6,740-yard layout. Kerr, 31, made up for a bogey at the par-four second hole by putting her tee shot at the 140-yard par-three fourth within inches of the cup for a tap-in birdie. Creamer, who trailed by one stroke overnight and whose resume includes eight LPGA Tour titles but no majors, failed to cash in on numerous birdie chances and posted three bogeys including a missed two-footer at the sixth. Tied at two over par, four shots behind Kerr, were South Koreans Park Hee-young and Ji Eun-hee, and Teresa Lu of Taiwan. Castano hits front In Scotland, Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano snatched the Scottish Open lead with a dynamic seven-under-par 64 on Saturday but said he would swap potential victory for the chance of finding his lost dog Petra. The 28-year-old moved one shot ahead of German Martin Kaymer (66) and South African Retief Goosen (69) on 14-under 199 at the end of the third round. Sharing fourth place on 202 were Briton Jamie Donaldson, who registered two birdie hat tricks in his 65, and Dane Soren Kjeldsen (67). Former European number one Lee Westwood was a further stroke adrift after a stunning nine-birdie 64 but it was Fernandez-Castano who was best placed for a morale-boosting victory ahead of next week's British Open at Turnberry. However, asked by a reporter if he would rather find the family Shar-Pei or win the title, he replied: “Believe it or not I'm going to say, find the dog.” Fernandez-Castano said he was told about the lost canine by his pregnant wife Alicia. “I got some bad news (from home) before my round and have to say I was thinking about something else than golf,” he said. “Unfortunately my dog got lost two days ago and when I called my wife before the round she was really sad.” The weather was perfect for the third day running on the picturesque banks of Loch Lomond and it simply rained birdies throughout Saturday's round. Westwood was out early and produced a sizzling run of nine birdies in 12 holes before cooling down over the closing stretch. His close friend Darren Clarke carded two eagles on the front nine before late starter Fernandez-Castano opened with a hat
