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| July 20, 2003 | Sunday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 19, 1424 |
Woods falters after excellent start in third round
SANDWICH (England), July 19: Tiger Woods dropped two shots in three holes to lose his momentum just as he looked set to take the British Open by the scruff of the neck in a sun-drenched third round on Saturday.
The world number one had eagled the fourth and seventh holes to lead the tournament for the first time, but bogeys at the 11th and 13th left Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn a shot clear at the top of the leaderboard on one under par.
Woods then nearly eagled the 14th, leaving the ball hovering on the edge of the cup before tapping in for a birdie to move back into a share of the lead.
Woods claimed his first eagle of the tournament at the par-five fourth hole before a spectacular bunker shot at the seventh sent the ball unerringly into the hole from around 40 feet.
He celebrated in uncharacteristically flamboyant style, raising both hands in the air and looking up at the sky, but kept his concentration sufficiently to notch another birdie with a 20-foot putt at the ninth before losing momentum after the turn.
The 27-year-old American, seeking his second British Open victory and ninth major championship, had made a solid start with three straight pars, including one at the first hole where he suffered a triple-bogey seven in the first round.
Bjorn also eagled the fourth hole and a birdie at the ninth left him at one under, two clear of overnight leader Davis Love III, American Kenny Perry, Spain’s Sergio Garcia and South Korean SK Ho.
Defending champion Ernie Els picked up birdies at both par-fives on the front nine before two bogeys pushed him back to four over and a double bogey at the 14th left him struggling at six over.
Earlier, Nick Faldo rolled back the years with a sparkling 67, the best round of the tournament later matched by Sweden’s Pierre Fulke and Briton Mark Roe, who took the clubhouse lead on one-over-par 214 before being disqualified along with his playing partner Jesper Parnevik for signing for the wrong score.
Faldo made six birdies, sinking an eight-foot putt on the final green to complete his lowest British Open round since 1995. It was also his 35th Open round in the 60s, moving him two ahead of American Jack Nicklaus at the top of the all-time list.
“I just played very well and then made a great finish,” said the 46-year-old Briton, who won the last of his three Opens in 1992 at Muirfield.
Faldo finished at four over par, a shot behind Fulke, but four other former British Open champions drifted out of contention.
Australian Greg Norman, who won the last Open at Sandwich in 1993, could only manage a 74 to finish at nine over par, the same score as Tom Lehman. John Daly ended at 10 over, and Mark O’Meara slumped to a 77 and a 14-over-par total of 227.
Latest leading scores
215 Phillip Price 74 72 69
216 Pierre Fulke (Sweden) 77 72 67 217 Stuart Appleby (Australia) 75 71 71, Nick Faldo 76 74 67
218 Angel Cabrera (Argentina) 75 73 70, Brian Davis 77 73 68, Mark Foster 73 73 72, Mathew Goggin (Australia) 76 72 70
219 Jose Coceres (Argentina) 77 70 72, Retief Goosen (South Africa) 73 75 71, Paul McGinley (Ireland) 77 73 69
220 Tom Byrum (U.S.) 77 72 71, Brad Faxon (U.S.) 77 73 70, Peter Fowler (Australia) 77 73 70, Raphael Jacquelin (France) 77 71 72, J.L.Lewis (U.S.) 78 70 72, David Lynn 73 76 71, Gary Murphy (Ireland) 73 74 73, Ian Poulter 78 72 70, Duffy Waldorf (U.S.) 76 73 71, Anthony Wall 75 74 71
221 Markus Brier (Austria) 76 71 74, K.J.Choi (South Korea) 77 72 72, Darren Clarke 75 75 71, Tom Watson (U.S.) 71 77 73, Mike Weir (Canada) 74 76 71
222 Robert Allenby (Australia) 73 75 74, Padraig Harrington (Ireland) 75 73 74, Trevor Immelman (South Africa) 77 73 72, Shingo Katayama (Japan) 76 73 73, Skip Kendall (U.S.) 73 76 73, Tom Lehman (U.S.) 77 73 72, Greg Norman (Australia) 69 79 74
223 John Daly (U.S.) 75 74 74, Len Mattiace (U.S.) 74 75 74, Chris Smith (U.S.) 74 73 76
224 Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 78 72 74, Bob Estes (U.S.) 77 71 76, Charles Howell III (U.S.) 71 76 77, Adam Mednick (Sweden) 76 72 76, Katsuyoshi Tomori (Japan) 72 77 75
225 Rich Beem (U.S.) 76 74 75, Stewart Cink (U.S.) 75 75 75, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa) 79 71 75
226 John Rollins (U.S.) 72 76 78
227 Mark McNulty (Zimbabwe) 79 71 77, Mark O’Meara (U.S.) 73 77 77 228 Stephen Leaney (Australia) 74 76 78, Ian Woosnam 73 75 80.—Reuters
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