GULLANE (Scotland), July 20: Ireland’s Padraig Harrington moved two shots clear of the field as Tiger Woods crashed off the pace in driving wind and rain in the British Open’s third round on Saturday.

Harrington birdied the par-four opening hole to get to seven under overall but the late starters were all struggling to find the fairways and greens as the weather deteriorated at Muirfield.

Woods, who began the day two strokes off the lead, bogeyed the first and fourth, ran up a double-bogey seven at the fifth and dropped another at the sixth to slip to one over par for the tournament with 11 holes to play.

Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama, who birdied the first like Harrington, dropped two shots at the par-four second to share second place with Ernie Els at five under.

World number three Els, one of five co-leaders overnight, ran up a bogey-five at the second and, with Maruyama, was one stroke clear of Denmark’s Soren Hansen, who was one over for the day after four holes.

Woods, chasing his third successive major title of the year, found the right rough off the first tee for the third day in a row.

After hacking his second shot out on to the fairway and then chipping 10 feet past the hole, he was unable to sink a curling putt to save his par.

The 26-year-old American then missed a 10-foot putt for par at the 213-yard third to slide back to two under overall.

He finally found a fairway at the 560-yard fifth but hit his second into the rough, hacked out on to the fairway, pitched his fourth over the back of the green from where he was unable to get up and down.

At the 468-yard sixth, he once again found the right rough off the tee and a bogey-five dropped him back to one over for the tournament.

Drizzle and grey skies but very little breeze had greeted the early third-round starters before the weather closed in.

At that point, Woods trailed Americans Duffy Waldorf and Bob Tway, Els, Harrington and Maruyama, who shared the overnight lead at six under 136.

American Justin Leonard and England’s Justin Rose, playing together on the day, took advantage of the favourable early conditions to close to within four strokes of the overnight lead.

Leonard, the 1997 champion at Royal Troon, and Rose carded matching rounds of three-under-par 68 to hold the clubhouse lead at two-under 211.

The 30-year-old Leonard, who opened with scores of 71 and 72, was one over for the day after dropping a shot at the par-four sixth but gathered four birdies over the last 10 holes to move up the leaderboard.

Rose bounced back from a disappointing second-round 75, mixing four birdies and a bogey-five at the 475-yard 10th to draw level with Leonard after 54 holes.

Australians Steve Elkington and Peter Lonard also made the most of the early conditions with rounds of 68.

Elkington, the 1995 U.S. PGA champion, was the first of the two to reach the clubhouse and a mix of five birdies and two bogeys lifted him to one-under-par 212.

The 35-year-old Lonard made a red-hot start with three birdies and a eagle-three in his first five holes before losing momentum on his second nine.

Two disqualified

American Jonathan Kaye and England’s Roger Chapman were disqualified after Friday’s second round for signing incorrect scores, tournament officials said.

Kaye, 31, who returned successive rounds of 74 to finish at six-over-par 148, signed for a four at the 389-yard 11th where he scored a five.

He also signed for a five at the 381-yard 12th where he collected a regulation par-four.

Chapman, who shot rounds of 74 and 76 for a 36-hole total of eight-over 150, signed for a three at the 185-yard seventh where he carded a bogey-four.

Kaye was playing in his first British Open at Muirfield this week while Chapman was competing in his 17th.

Champions exit

While Woods fired a second-round 68 to remain on course for a third successive major title this year, several former champions exited after 36 holes.

The halfway cut was made at two-over-par 144, with 83 players advancing to the third round.

Among those failing to progress were Tom Lehman, who won the 1996 Open at Royal Lytham, and fellow American John Daly, who triumphed the previous year at St Andrews.

Lehman returned rounds of 70 and 76 to miss out by two while Daly crashed out after scores of 74 and 77.

Five-times champion Tom Watson will also miss the weekend rounds following returns of 77 and 78.

Other big names the wrong side of the line included twice U.S. Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal (145), twice major winner Vijay Singh of Fiji (147) and 2000 European number one Lee Westwood (145).

World number two Phil Mickelson qualified for the weekend right on the cut-mark after a poor second round of 76.—Reuters