On an Adare Manor course described by Ryder Cup teammate Paul McGinley as "a monster" on Thursday, Westwood followed birdies at the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th with a closing eagle three.

Six under for the last five holes gave the former European number one a 64, only one outside Padraig Harrington's course record, and he went into the final round in third place.

Westwood, 39th at the start of the day and only 80th after his opening 75, was one behind fellow Englishman Richard Finch and two behind new leader Bradley Dredge, the Welshman who a year ago lost a play-off on the course to Harrington.

The 34-year-old from Cardiff finished with a double-bogey seven on that occasion, but this time he closed with a sixth birdie in 10 holes - while playing partner Darren Clarke, two back at the time, crashed to a triple-bogey eight.

Dredge, home in 31 like Westwood, returned a 66 for nine under, while Finch shot 65.

In terms of scoring, the only finish that can better Westwood's on the circuit came from Australian Peter O'Malley on the final day of the 1992 Scottish Open at Gleneagles.

O'Malley went eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle to pip Colin Montgomerie to the title.

Westwood was only playing in Ireland because he fell ill three weeks ago and pulled out of the Wachovia Championship in America.

"I just went out to enjoy it today - and that was very enjoyable," he said. "It was great.

"A 64 round here, you have got to class as a pretty good score. I pulled the four-iron at the last, but it was a good putt."

Having already rolled in a 15-foot eagle putt on the seventh in an outward 33, Westwood was cursing when he took six at the long 12th after reaching a greenside bunker in two.

"You hate that and frustrating would be a nice word to use," he added.

But two holes later he converted a 10-foot chance, then holed putts from 20 and four feet before chipping in at the 17th and making the 12-footer on the 548-yard last.

It made him leader on his own at the time, but Finch then birdied the 15th and 18th to get in on eight under.

Dredge, who received word on the course that Cardiff were losing the FA Cup final, said: "Obviously, I'd love to win and not get in any play-off.

"It's always a tough one to swallow when you do that, but I was really pleased today because I was not in a good mood coming off the course yesterday. To drop from seven under to three under was not a very good performance."

Finch, the former English amateur champion from Hull, was involved in a struggle to keep his Tour card at the end of last season, but in December captured the New Zealand Open.

"It was just one of those days when everything seemed to fall good for me," he commented. "I was just trying to get in a position for tomorrow, two or three behind."

Overnight leader Michael Lorenzo-Vera, playing just his 16th Tour event, could manage only a 75, as did his playing partner Marcel Siem, and it was Swede Robert Karlsson, Chile's Felipe Aguilar and 48-year-old South African David Frost who were in joint fourth.

Frost, trying to become the oldest ever winner on the tour, fired a 66.

Harrington was hoping for better than 70 and gave himself six strokes to make up, while Paul McGinley fell eight back with a 73 and Colin Montgomerie, round in the same score, was down in 36th place on one over.

As for 19-year-old Rory McIlroy, his 70 moved him up, but only from 11th to ninth on four under.

ALL THE THIRD ROUND SCORES
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

207 Bradley Dredge 68 73 66

208 Richard Finch 71 72 65

209 Lee Westwood 75 70 64

210 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 71 70 69, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 71 72 67, David Frost (Rsa) 74 70 66

211 Ross Fisher 74 68 69, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 77 66 68

212 Anthony Wall 72 70 70, Rory McIlroy 70 72 70, Lee S James 69 73 70, James Kingston (Rsa) 75 68 69, Stephen Gallacher 73 71 68, Gary Murphy 74 70 68, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 72 72 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 77 70 65

213 Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 68 70 75, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 69 72 72, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 76 66 71, Darren Clarke 72 69 72, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 70 73, Padraig Harrington 72 71 70

214 Marcel Siem (Ger) 68 71 75, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 71 71 72, Steven O'Hara 74 68 72, Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 73 73, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 70 73 71

215 Richard Green (Aus) 66 74 75, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 77 68 70, Paul McGinley 73 69 73, Edoardo Molinari (Ita) 70 73 72, Paul Broadhurst 73 74 68

216 Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 73 73 70, Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 74 70 72, Oliver Fisher 72 75 69

217 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 66 76 75, Gary Orr 71 73 73, Peter Baker 72 69 76, Colin Montgomerie 75 69 73, Francois Delamontagne (Fra) 73 72 72, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 72 73 72, Julio Zapata (Arg) 72 73 72, Peter Hedblom (Swe) 77 69 71, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 72 72 73, Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 75 69 73

218 Oliver Wilson 74 73 71, Alastair Forsyth 71 72 75, Peter Lawrie 71 75 72, Barry Lane 73 72 73

219 Luis Claverie (Spa) 73 73 73, Scott Strange (Aus) 71 74 74, Steven Jeppesen (Swe) 74 72 73, Stuart Manley 71 72 76, John Bickerton 72 70 77

220 Stephen Dodd 74 71 75, Ross McGowan 74 71 75, Simon Khan 71 74 75, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 74 75

221 Ulrich Van Den Berg (Rsa) 71 75 75, Pedro Linhart (Spa) 71 76 74, Paul Waring 76 70 75, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 70 77 74

222 Peter Hanson (Swe) 74 73 75

223 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 73 74 76, Emanuele Canonica (Ita) 72 74 77

224 Benoit Teilleria (Fra) 75 72 77

225 David Drysdale 74 72 79, Matthew Millar (Aus) 73 73 79