Casey storms three shots clear at PGA Championship

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 ($1.58 million) 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.

"I hit two good ones on the practice range and then hit an okay one on 11 and a bad hook on 12," said Casey. "So, 50-50 isn't great, is it?

"The driver may have to stay in the bag all day tomorrow. But I had some good breaks today. I had a ball bounce out of the trees on 12."

ILLUSTRIOUS LIST

Casey said he was keen to add his name to an illustrious list of PGA champions that reads like a Who's Who of European golf.

"The great players have their names etched on this trophy so it would be nice to get my name on it," he said. "That's the biggest thing.

"It was the one I watched when I was growing up. I was a member at the Foxhills Club down the road and we used to come down and watch the tournament.

"You remember the great shots here -- Seve Ballesteros's out of the trees one year and Nick Faldo's cut shot on 15, Bernhard Langer dropping the trophy on the green. It was the dream that sparked my love of golf."

Kjeldsen made a dream move of his own when he birdied three of the final four holes and, unlike Casey, he had a strong belief in his driver.

"I played really great today," said the 34-year-old Dane. "That was the best I've driven it in a long time.

"I felt I could be more aggressive off the tee because of that. I had trust in my driver and it felt good."

Kjeldsen said his victory at the prestigious Volvo Masters last year had taken his game to a new level.

"I'm playing quite a few majors now and World Golf Championship events and I'm not really scared of anybody," he said.

(Editing by Kevin Fylan)