PORTMARNOCK (Ireland), July 27: Thomas Bjorn shares the lead going into the Irish Open final round, the second straight week the Dane has been ahead at that stage of a tournament.
Bjorn will hope for a better result this time after the late collapse that cost him the British Open title last Sunday, when he led at Royal St George’s by three strokes going to the 15th hole of his final round.
The Dane birdied the last hole at Portmarnock for a four-under-par 68, an erratic round containing eight birdies and four bogeys, as he moved to 10-under-par 206, level with New Zealand’s Michael Campbell and second-round leader David Lynn of Britain.
On a see-saw afternoon at the Dublin links, six players headed the leaderboard, but Bjorn’s recovery from a 74 previous day was most significant.
The leading trio are a shot better than Sweden’s Robert Karlsson and another Briton, recent British Masters winner Greg Owen.
Karlsson was another to top the leaderboard, as was Australian Peter Lonard, who finished a further shot back.
Irishman Peter Lawrie, the sixth player to lead during the afternoon, disappointed a huge gallery with late dropped shots to fall three strokes off the pace.
Leading third round scores (British unless stated):
206 — Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 64, 74, 68; Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 66, 69, 71; David Lynn 69, 65, 72.
207 — Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 69, 69, 69; Greg Owen 68, 71, 68.
208 — Peter Lonard (Australia) 71, 68, 69.
209 — Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 70, 71, 68; Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 70, 68, 71.
210 — Jean-Francois Lucquin (France) 72, 68, 70; Ben Mason 69, 71, 70; Ian Poulter 70, 71, 69; Shaun Webster 72, 71, 67.
211 — Markus Brier (Austria) 71, 71, 69; Luke Donald 68, 74, 69; Gary Emerson 68, 71, 72; Simon Khan 68, 73, 70; Peter O’Malley (Australia) 70, 69, 72; Sven Struver (Germany) 71, 71, 69; Greg Turner (New Zealand) 71, 71, 69; Lee Westwood 70, 72, 69.
212 — Paul Broadhurst 67, 74, 71; Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 73, 68, 71; Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 72, 69, 71; Gary Murphy (Ireland) 74, 68, 70; Mark Pilkington 76, 67, 69; Andrew Raitt 70, 72, 70; Raymond Russell 71, 73, 68; Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 71, 71, 70.
JACOBSEN STILL LEADS
CROMWELL (Connecticut): Peter Jacobsen shot a one-under-par 69 on Saturday to remain one stroke in front in the $4 million Greater Hartford Open.
Jacobsen, winless on the PGA Tour since 1995, is on 11-under 199, one shot ahead of Chris Riley (63) and Willie Wood (68).
Kenny Perry (67), a three-time winner in 2003, and Craig Barlow (68) are at nine-under 201.
Jacobsen is aiming to become the sixth player aged 40 or older to win this season. Included in the group is Perry, who is seeking to join Tiger Woods as the other four-time winner on tour this season.
Jacosbsen went out in even-par 35 on the par-70, 6,820-yard TPC at River Highlands. He bogeyed the par-three 11th and par-four 14th but rallied with birdies at the 15th and 16th to get under par and retain his one-stroke lead.
Leading third round scores (US unless stated):
199 — Peter Jacobsen 63, 67, 69.
200 — Chris Riley 72, 65, 63; Willie Wood 66, 66, 68.
201 — Kenny Perry 66, 68, 67; Craig Barlow 65, 68, 68.
202 — Robert Damron 69, 64, 69; J.J. Henry 66, 67, 69; Darron Stiles 69, 63, 70.
203 — K.J. Choi (South Korea) 66, 72, 65; Jay Williamson 72, 66, 65; Joe Durant 68, 69, 66; Heath Slocum 69, 66, 68; Steve Pate 67, 68, 68; Rod Pampling (Australia) 70, 64, 69; Brian Henninger 69, 64, 70.
204 — Todd Fischer 66, 69, 69; Kevin Sutherland 68, 68, 68; Mike Heinen 67, 67, 70.
205 — Robin Freeman 69, 69, 67; Matthew Goggin (Australia) 67, 71, 67; Jonathan Kaye 66, 72, 67; Akio Sadakata (Japan) 68, 69, 68; Briny Baird 72, 65, 68; Jay Delsing 69, 68, 68; Per-Ulrik Johansson (Sweden) 69, 68, 68; Mark Brooks 67, 68, 70.
Other international players:
206 — Glen Hnatiuk (Canada) 70, 69, 67.
208 — Paul Gow (Australia) 71, 69, 68; Richard Johnson (Sweden) 69, 70, 69.
209 — Aaron Baddeley (Australia) 67, 72, 70.
210 — Gavin Coles (Australia) 70, 67, 73.
211 — Brenden Pappas (Australia) 71, 68, 72; Steve Allan (Australia) 71, 68, 72; John Morgan (Britain) 69, 71, 71.
212 — Hidemichi Tanaka (Japan) 72, 67, 73.
214 — Deane Pappas (South Africa) 69, 70, 75.—Reuters