Saturday, July 24, 2010

SENIOR OPEN AT CARNOUSTIE

Langer leads by three ... but he's not counting his chickens just yet

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
Bernhard Langer will take a three-shot lead into the final round of The Senior Open Championship presented by MasterCard after a third round 69 at Carnoustie today.
The Florida-based German's two under par round moved him clear of halfway joint-leader Corey Pavin - the US Ryder Cup captain carding a one over 72 to lie second on three under par.
Two-time Masters Tournament champion Langer advanced to six under for the week with birdies at the first, sixth and 15th, but a bunkered tee shot at the last cost him a bogey-free round.
He almost got up and down after a fine pitch to eight feet, but left his putt right and had to settle for bogey.
"It was a good round of golf again," said the former Ryder Cup Captain. "I played very solid, and wasn't in too much trouble for the most part.
"There's only two things that I could have done better; I think the three-putt on 14 was a shame after hitting two beautiful shots in there. And I wasn't too far away, I was only about 35 feet away with the first putt and three-putted that one.
"And then the bogey on the last one, I hit probably the wrong club off the tee and just trickled into the bunker and ended up making bogey there. But otherwise, I was very happy with my round.
"But I'm aware of the golf course - that it's one of the toughest links you'll ever play. So I'm very much aware that the three-shot lead is nothing, or very little, so I still need to play a very solid, very good round of golf tomorrow if I'm going to lift the trophy."
Pavin will also feel he may have done better on the last, after a fine approach he pulled a 12 foot birdie attempt left and in doing so missed an opportunity to halve the deficit.
"It was a day I played fairly well, and a lot of putts just missed," he said. "Sometimes you have days like that - I would rather have it be on Saturday than Sunday.
"So I'll go work on my putting and see if I was maybe lined up a little bit wrong or something was off. But I was pleased with today and I played well. It seemed like I had a lot of 12, 15 footers for birdie and couldn't get them in - but that's the way it goes sometimes and that's why we play tomorrow, as well."
Langer has had seven top-ten finishes in Senior Majors since joining the over-50 ranks, and won the Champions Tour Order of Merit in 2008 and 2009, but victory over the Carnoustie Championship Course would represent his first Major title since he collected the second of his Green Jackets in 1993.
By contrast, Pavin is playing his first Senior Major after turning 50 last November. He had birdies at the sixth and 14th, but a bogey at the third and consecutive dropped shots at the tenth and 11th left him with work to do to catch Langer.
“I'm going to play the same way,” revealed Pavin. “This course, once you start attacking and getting aggressive, it can really come up and bite you. But if I get into position with a few holes to go, I might take a chance if I need to”
No fewer than six players finished the day tied for third on two under - five of them American.
Fred Funk, Jay Don Blake, Russ Cochran, Larry Mize and Jay Haas were joined by Wales' former Senior Tour Order of Merit winner Ian Woosnam.
THIRD-ROUND SCOREBOARD
Par 213 (3x71)
Players from US unless stated
207 Bernhard Langer (Ger) 67 71 69
210 Corey Pavin 69 69 72
211 Russ Cochran 70 71 70, Ian Woosnam (Wal) 72 67 72, Larry Mize 69 70 72, Jay Haas 70 69 72, Jay Don Blake 67 74 70, Fred Funk 75 69 67
212 Gary Hallberg 70 74 68, Carl Mason (Eng) 67 76 69
213 John Cook 69 72 72, Dan Forsman 68 71 74, Jeff Sluman 69 74 70
214 David J Russell (Eng) 75 67 72, Michael Allen 73 70 71, Trevor Dodds (Nam) 74 71 69, Olin Browne 70 72 72
215 Mark Calcavecchia 70 70 75, Peter Senior (Aus) 71 72 72, Tommy Armour III 74 72 69
216 Tom Watson 74 71 71, Mark James (Eng) 74 72 70, C.s. Lu (Tpe) 76 71 69
217 Ted Schulz 75 70 72, Chris Williams (Rsa) 73 74 70, David Frost (Rsa) 71 75 71
218 Bruce Vaughan 68 76 74, Loren Roberts 71 72 75, Mike Goodes 73 75 70
219 Bobby Clampett 76 73 70, Tom Lehman 71 75 73, Angel Franco (Par) 73 75 71, Morris Hatalsky 71 72 76, Eduardo Romero (Arg) 74 73 72, Peter Fowler (Aus) 75 73 71, Barry Lane (Eng) 75 72 72
220 Des Smyth (Irl) 74 74 72, Scott Simpson 78 69 73, Mike Donald 69 79 72, Tsukasa Watanabe (Jpn) 74 74 72
221 Hideki Kase (Jpn) 77 70 74, Randy Haag 71 77 73, John Harrison (Eng) 72 77 72, Ronnie Black 72 74 75, Mark Wiebe 68 80 73, Domingo Hospital (Spa) 74 70 77, Ross Drummond (Sco) 72 74 75, Gordon Brand Jnr (Sco) 73 75 73, Glenn Ralph (Eng) 75 73 73
222 James D Mason 71 74 77, Gordon J Brand (Eng) 73 75 74, Juan Quiros (Spa) 76 72 74, Gene Jones 73 74 75, Steve Cipa (Eng) 74 72 76, Bill Longmuir (Sco) 75 71 76, David Merriman (Aus) 74 75 73
223 Denis O'Sullivan (Irl) 73 76 74, Bob Cameron (Eng) 75 73 75, Wayne Grady (Aus) 77 71 75, Noel Ratcliffe (Aus) 76 72 75
224 David Peoples 70 74 80, Fraser Mann (Sco) 72 74 78, Boonchu Ruangkit (Tha) 75 74 75
225 Denis Watson (Zim) 76 72 77, Stephen Bennett (Eng) 74 73 78, Martin Poxon (Eng) 75 74 76, Mike Cunning 74 74 77, Tim Simpson 75 74 76
226 Sam Torrance (Sco) 69 77 80, Mark Belsham (Eng) 75 73 78, Bob Gilder 76 73 77
229 John Benda 74 75 80
230 Philip Blackmar 75 74 81

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