Colin Montgomerie joint second

Larrazabal leads by three with one
round to go in French Open

FROM THE AOL GOLF NEWS SERVICE
Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood, two of Europe's big guns, were unable to stop a lesser-known Spaniard, Pablo Larrazabal, taking a three-stroke lead into Sunday's final round of the French Open.
Ranked only 481st in the world and a qualifier for the event, Larrazabal produced a superb four-under-par 67 after reaching halfway sharing top spot with England's David Lynn at Le Golf National near Paris.
Now the 25-year-old from Barcelona, playing just his 17th European Tour event, is out on his own in the pole position at 11 under par with Montgomerie and Dane Soren Hansen his closest challengers and then Westwood and Lynn one further back.
"I saw the names Monty and Westwood - I love to shoot lower than those," said Larrazabal. "I'm not the star of the tournament. I came from the pre-qualifying. There are 156 players and I am maybe the 150th best, but that's not a problem for me.
"If I play on Sunday like I did today, it's going to be fun. I hit the ball great."
A first prize of almost £528,000, a two-year tour exemption and a place in the coming Open Championship at Royal Birkdale is there for Larrazabal's taking - but the hardest part has still to come.
"The hardest part of trying for your first win is to have patience during a round," said Montgomerie, 45 last Monday and suddenly back in the spotlight after a slide outside the world's top 100.
"You tend to want to go for things and this course is very demanding on you mentally."
Then the Scot remembered his first tour victory back in 1989. "I was four ahead and broke the course record with a 63," he added.
Westwood said of Larrazabal: "He's done well and looks a good player. It's never easy when you have the lead overnight, so well done to him. Now he has another night thinking about it."
THIRD ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3x71)
202 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 65 70 67
205 Colin Montgomerie 69 68 68, Soren Hansen (Den) 69 69 67
206 David Lynn 70 65 71, Lee Westwood 69 68 69
207 Markus Brier (Aut) 70 71 66
208 Oliver Fisher 66 73 69
209 Graeme McDowell 69 73 67, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa) 73 70 66, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 71 66, Richard Green (Aus) 73 71 65, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 69 71 69, John Bickerton 72 69 68
210 Steve Webster 73 68 69, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 70 73 67, Graeme Storm 68 70 72, Paul Broadhurst 69 69 72, Tom Whitehouse 71 70 69, Alejandro Canizares (Spa) 71 69 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 68 69 73, Miles Tunnicliff 68 71 71, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 72 67
211 Robert Karlsson (Swe) 72 71 68, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 67 70 74, Danny Willett 74 70 67, Peter Lawrie 66 71 74
212 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 68 74 70, Francesco Molinari (Ita) 68 75 69, Martin Erlandsson (Swe) 68 73 71, Scott Barr (Aus) 75 69 68, Simon Dyson 70 70 72
213 Martin Wiegele (Aut) 68 76 69, Maarten Lafeber (Ned) 73 67 73, David Frost (Rsa) 69 74 70, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 68 73 72, Rick Kulacz (Aus) 72 71 70, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 68 72 73, Jean Van de velde (Fra) 71 72 70, Jamie Donaldson 68 73 72, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 70 72 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 75 69 69, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 70 70
214 Hennie Otto (Rsa) 70 69 75, Shiv Kapur (Ind) 75 63 76, Paul Lawrie 73 71 70, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 72 72 70, Paul McGinley 71 73 70, Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) 71 73 70, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 70 74 70
215 Carl Suneson (Spa) 72 67 76, Ian Poulter 72 72 71, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 70 73 72, Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 72 71 72, Barry Lane 68 76 71
216 Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 71 71 74, Nick Dougherty 71 71 74
217 Mikael Lundberg (Swe) 71 71 75, Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 74 69 74, Ross Fisher 73 71 73, Jarmo Sandelin (Swe) 74 70 73, Phillip Archer 69 74 74, Andrew Coltart 68 76 73
218 Peter Hanson (Swe) 71 73 74, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 72 71 75
219 Daniel Vancsik (Arg) 69 75 75
220 Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spa) 74 69 77
221 Sebastien Delagrange (Fra) 72 72 77
225 Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 70 74 81