Casey storms three shots clear at PGA Championship

By Tony Jimenez

VIRGINIA WATER, England (Reuters) - World number seven Paul Casey was poised for his third victory of the year after cruising into a three-stroke lead in the PGA Championship third round on Saturday.

The 31-year-old Briton played flawlessly on a warm, still day as a five-birdie 67 earned him a 13-under-par total of 203 at the European Tour's flagship event.

That left Casey three ahead of Dane Soren Kjeldsen (68) and four in front of Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, who catapulted into contention with a best-of-the-week 65.

In joint fourth place on 208 were Britain's Ross Fisher (67) and Charl Schwartzel (68) of South Africa.

Casey, who claimed a one million pounds jackpot for winning the 2006 World Match Play title at Wentworth, again showed his liking for the leafy West Course.

The Englishman, aiming to follow up his victories in Abu Dhabi in January and Houston last month, started solidly with three pars before leaving the rest of the field in his slipstream with birdies at the fourth, sixth and eighth.

Casey made further inroads on par at the 10th and 13th and would have been even further ahead but for a missed five-foot birdie putt at the par-five 18th.

In an effort to keep errors to a minimum on a challenging layout measuring 7,320 yards, the Ryder Cup player only used his driver twice.