Dredge leads by one in Irish Open

FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD (GB & Ire unless stated)
-9 B Dredge -8 R Finch -7 L Westwood -6 F Aguilar (Chi), D Frost (RSA), R Karlsson (Swe) -5 R Fisher, M Ilonen (Fin) -4 S Gallacher, G Havret (Fra), L James, J Kingston (RSA), R McIlroy, G Murphy, A Quiros Garcia (Spa), A Wall

Irish Open leaderboard

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Dredge lost in a play-off to Padraig Harrington last year

Last year's runner-up Bradley Dredge will take a one-shot lead into the last round of the Irish Open at Adare Manor.

Welshman Dredge fired a 66 which moved him to nine under - a stroke ahead of England's Richard Finch, who shot 65.

Englishman Lee Westwood closed with four birdies and an eagle for a 64 to charge into contention on seven under.

Darren Clarke suffered a triple-bogey on 18 to drop to three under, which left him a shot behind leading Irishmen Rory McIlroy and Gary Murphy.

Chile's Felipe Aguilar, Robert Karlsson and South African veteran David Frost are three behind Dredge, while England's Ross Fisher and Finland's Mikko Ilonen are a further shot in arrears.

Holder Padraig Harrington is alongside Clarke on three under after struggling on his back nine.

Clarke was only two shots off the lead as he stood on the 18th tee but a blocked drive was then followed by him sending his third shot over the green and out of bounds from a fairway bunker.

His playing partner Dredge's closing birdie left Clarke six shots off the pace and with surely too much to do on Sunday.

Dredge, beaten by Harrington in a play-off at Adare Manor 12 months ago, roared home in 31 to move ahead of Finch who had looked likely to lead going into Sunday.

Westwood's round was only a stroke outside Harrington's course record.

Lee Westwood shows his delight after his eagle on the 18th

The Ryder Cup star hit a disappointing 75 in his opening round and was 39th at the start of play on Saturday.

Westwood is 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.

"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.

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-foot eagle-putt 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.

Overnight leader Michael Lorenzo-Vera stumbled to a 75 which dropped him to three under while Marcel Siem carded the same score to finish on two under.