THIRD ROUND LEADERBOARD: (GB & Ire unless stated) -7 M Lundberg (After 14 holes) (Swe), JM Singh (Ind) (12), A Canizares (Spa) (10) -6C Schwartzel (SA), M Campbell (NZ) (13), G Fdez-Castano (Spa) (13), R Fisher (11), L Westwood (10) -5 M Carlsson (Swe) -4T Bjorn (Den) (14), PL Lawrie (12), T Jaidee (Tha) (11), A Noren (Swe) (10)

Westwood's third round ended after 10 holes

Lee Westwood battled back from a poor start to move within a shot of the leaders when the British Masters third round was called off for the day.

The Englishman was the joint leader when the second round was completed on Saturday morning at the Belfry.

He fell away after bogeying the first three holes of his third round but got back to six under to share second.

Mikael Lundberg, Alejandro Canizares and Michael Campbell lead but only 24 players completed their third rounds.

It was another day interrupted by fog and Westwood will have to return to play the final eight holes of his third round on Sunday.

Despite losing nearly three hours of play on Saturday, European Tour officials decided against a "shotgun" start - where players tee off at every hole.

Promoter Andrew Chandler came up with the idea - also backed by the BBC - but chief referee John Paramor said "it's not professional tournament golf".

"I'm very disappointed," said Chandler. "We suggested a shotgun start because we thought it would please the fans here and the television audience."

But Paramor insisted the alteration was inappropriate for such a high-profile event.

"It just does not happen except in pro-ams. In serious tournament golf, no, " he said.

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"It's very difficult for the public to understand where the players are and there is no correlation between where they are and how many holes to go.

"The score means nothing until everybody is finished. And we are pretty confident that players would not like to be drawn to start on certain holes."

Just two minutes of action, which began at 0745 BST on the third day, were possible before organisers brought players back to the clubhouse.

The fog eventually cleared and play resumed at 1030.

At the end of the second round Westwood and Swede Alex Noren were tied for the lead on six under.

The pair did not begin their third round until 1605 BST and Westwood was initially unhappy at having to start from 10th tee.

He went for the green on the shortened par-4 but landed in the water.

"When you are leading you expect to go off the first tee but now I know it's TV who wanted it and that's an important part of professional golf," Westwood said.

"It wasn't the easiest way to start a round but I got my reward for being patient."

His hopes of defending his title were helped when he holed a bunker shot for an eagle at the 17th.

South African Charl Schwartzel was one of the few players to complete his third round, making seven birdies in nine holes for a spectacular back nine of 29 on the way to a 66.

He finished on six under along with Westwood, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Ross Fisher.

Earlier in the day, Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie both missed the halfway cut.

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