A FIERCELY gusting wind heavily reinforced the course in the third
round of the Murphy's English Open yesterday at The Belfry. At the end
six of the 78 qualifiers were below par, 21 fewer than at the start.
Only five players matched or bettered 72, and although 18 more were
within two strokes, the same number failed to break 80.
When the mingled sighs of relief and groans of disaffection had
subsided after rounds lasting well over four hours, two Swedes, a
stoical people used to rough weather, headed the battered field.
Per-Ulrik Johansson's 72 brought him level with the overnight leader,
Frederik Lindgren, on 211, five under par, to share a two-stroke
advantage.
Mark Roe, the only native professional among the first six, was on 213
with the Italian Silvio Grappasonni, and they were a stroke further
ahead of the veteran Argentinian Vicente Fernandez and Brett Ogle, a
former Australian PGA champion. The thought of the first prize of
#91,660 will surely test resolve and technique today.
The imperative was to limit errors and losses when conditions made
control of the ball so difficult. Gains were as pure gold, confirmed by
the fact that the leading players had only eight birdies in 108 holes
between them as against 17 bogeys and one double-bogey. Patience was the
essential antedote to frustration.
A notable departure from this requirement was made by Colin
Montgomerie. He came to the tenth having played the first nine holes
each in par and although the tee at the 298-yard hole was forward by 45
yards Montgomerie, having rejected the risk of a driver shot into the
wind, laid up short of the pond.
But Montgomerie's pitch screwed back almost 20 feet down the slope
into the hazard, eliciting the subsequent outburst that this was ''a
stupid hole, a stupid pin position, and a stupid wind. It was like going
out of bounds.'' Three putts for bogeys at the fourteenth and fifteenth
did nothing to soothe the fevered brow.
At the last, Montgomerie's drive failed to carry the water and he took
three from the green's fringe for a 7, a triple-bogey. Having come home
in 43 for 79, Montgomerie was surely disingenuous to claim he had not
hit a bad shot.
Johansson, the 1991 Rookie of the Year, has had an inconsistent
season, perhaps because he pitched his expectations a little high. An
inward half of 34, two under par, was superlative golf in the
circumstances, and it was matched by his compatriot.
Johansson topped and tailed this score with birdies at the tenth and
eighteenth, where his No.2-iron shot to 15 feet produced only the third
gain at the 478-yard hole all day. Lindgren then caught up with him by
hitting his third shot close at the long seventeenth, where his wayward
drive suggested that par would be quite acceptable.
Roe was five under with four to play, only to take three from the edge
of the long fifteenth, and, with his cack-handed grip, three putts at
the next. But he held firm over the last two holes to join Grappasonni,
whose birdie at the short fourteenth was the only 2 mustered by the
leading group.
Fernandez, aged 42, won the PGA Championship at St Andrews in 1979
(one of his four European successes) in similarly bleak conditions. His
score of 73 was a tribute to the value of experience, and so also was
the 75 of Ogle.
Stephen McAllister led the Scottish survivors of the cut on 219 after
a 78, his short game understandably not always able to save inevitable
mistakes. Adam Hunter's 76 was the lowest score of the day among the
six, although it included three double-bogey 6s and he was obliged
afterwards to have treatment for continuing back and rib injuries.
Leading third-round aggregates (British and Irish unless otherwise
stated):
211 -- P-U Johansson (Sweden) 71, 68, 72; F Lindgren (Sweden) 69, 68,
74.
213 -- S Grappasonni (Italy) 70, 69, 74; M Roe 69, 69, 75.
214 -- V Fernandez (Argentina) 69, 72, 73; B Ogle (Australia) 72, 67,
75.
216 -- L Tinkler (Australia) 70, 72, 74; K Waters 71, 69, 76.
217 -- A Binaghi (Italy) 73, 73, 71; R Chapman 72, 69, 76; B Lane 70,
69, 78; R Davis (Australia) 67, 72, 78.
218 -- P O'Malley 75, 72, 71; S Luna (Spain) 73, 71, 74; P Price 72,
69, 77.
Other aggregates included:
220 -- S McAllister 70, 71, 78. 221 -- M Lanner (Sweden) 75, 71, 75; A
Hunter 73, 72, 76; C Mason 75, 68, 78; C Montgomerie 71, 71, 79.
222 -- J Bland (South Africa) 72, 75, 75; B Gallacher 74, 71, 77.
224 -- S Torrance 75, 72, 77.
226 -- D Gilford 72, 71, 83.
227 -- J McHenry 72, 75, 80; M Miller 73, 74, 80; G Evans 70, 75, 82.
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