ROSE RALLIES AFTER STICKY START TO TAKE
FOUR-STROKE LEAD INTO FINAL ROUND
OF THE SEASON-ENDING VOLVO MASTERS

It must be written in the stars that Justin Rose will score a double whammy at Valderrama in southern Spain come late afternoon on Sundy when he will be crowned the Volvo Masters champion and the winner of the European Tour Order of Merit for 2007.
How else can you explain a hole in one on the opening day ... and then leading by four shots going into the final round, despite spilling three strokes to par over the first two holes today?
Somebody up there likes Justin - well, this week, anyway - and Rose has only to remain standing to be Europe's No 1.
Open champion Padraig Harrington must have thought his Good Fairy was back in business when his rival for the Harry Vardon Trophy started with that stutter and allowed him to wipe out Rose's four-stroke overnight advantage.
Justin had reasserted his superiority - in this tournament - by the 11th hole as Harrington let his own standards slip a bit. Rose went round in level par 71 to stand at four-under-par 209. He is the only man in the select field who is under par after 54 holes.
Harrington had to settle for his third 71 of the week and he is joint second with Simon Dyson from Yorkshire.
Dyson should have been a lot closer to Rose but he three-putted the 17th for par and bogeyed the 18th for a 69 which included seven birdies. He had 2s at each of the short holes.
Germany's Martin Kaymer, favourite to land the Sir Henry Cotton Rookie of the Year Award after this week, showed that Valderrama could be tamed by shooting a five-under-par 66 - the best by anyone over the three days - be in fourth place on three-over 216.
Let's recap on Rose's "bloomin' awful" start. He hit the middle of the fairway with his first drive but was short in two and took three more to get down while Harrington was on his was to a birdie 3 from 15ft despite driving into the trees.
So that was two of Rose's overnight lead gone, just like that. Then the Englishman was through the back of the second green and took four more to get down. That put Rose and Harrington on an equal footing.
That was as good as it got for Harrington. He was in the water at the par-5 fifth and bogeyed it while Rose regain the lead with a scrambling par from near the rocks at the hazard.
A birdie at the next by Harrington put the pair level again but three birdies in the four holes around the turn saw Rose take charge again as he holed out brilliantly round one of Europe’s trickiest courses.
"I'm delighted to still be four ahead after that start," Rose said. "After the second hole I was a bit shell-shocked. At the third tee, though, I told myself I was still sharing the lead so get on with it.
"My caddie reminded me that sometimes I'm good when my back's against the wall. It was either get over it or ruin the whole round. Two years ago I would have panicked but this time I took stock and regrouped."
With Order of Merit leader Ernie Els of South Africa absent this week (he missed the cut in the Singapore Open where he was paid appearance money to play), Rose is determined to complete the job by claiming the season-ending title. Harrington, 667 Euros behind Justin in the money talbe, needs to finish ahead of Rose.
"It's as clear as that," added Rose. "Win here tomorrow and win both.This is not an opportunity that presents itself that often. The realisation came to me last week that I really wanted it."
Harrington said he admired the way Rose had fought back. "It's in his hands tomorrow," said Padraig.
"I'm not going to get away with not having a good day tomorrow but the advantage is with him. He did awfully well to finish level par after that start."
The outcome of the Order of Merit is now virtually certain to be between Rose and Harrington with the only other players with a chance of the title at the start of the week, Swedes Henrik Stenson and Niclas Fasth, out of the hunt. Only a collapse by the main protagonists would allow Els to stay on top.