THOMAS BJORN LEADS AFTER QATAR MASTERS THIRD ROUND

FROM THE EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE

Thomas Bjorn turned on the style to grab the 54-hole lead at the Commercialbank Qatar Masters presented by Dolphin Energy in Doha.

The former Ryder Cup star, who last October was one of Colin Montgomerie's vice-captains at The Celtic Manor Resort, birdied four of the last five holes to charge from one behind Austrian Markus Brier to one in front.

Bjorn, 40 in less than a fortnight, added a bogey-free 66 to his second round 65 and will resume the chase for the Euros 303,113 first prize on 11 under par 205.

Brier, the World No. 478, was left to rue bogey 6s on both the ninth and 18th as he handed in a 69 for 206.

First his approach flew over the green, then he was twice in the dense rough right of the final fairway and had to lay up short of the water with his third shot.

Defending champion Robert Karlsson remains a threat three strokes behind Bjorn in third spot, outdoing even the leader with five birdies in his last seven holes for a 69.

"When you finish a round with four birdies in the last five, you have to walk off very happy,"said Bjorn, who won last year's Estoril Open de Portugal.
"I played fantastic yesterday to shoot that 65 and felt comfortable this morning, and felt good with the way my golf is. I'm feeling quite comfortable on the golf course considering it's been a while since I've been in that kind of situation, so I'm pleased with the way the day panned out."
The ten-time European Tour winner started his run with a curling 18 footer at the 14th and finished with three more birdies, pitching over the lake to within three feet of the flag on the last.
Brier, who did not have a single top-20 finish on The European Tour last year and survived Qualifying School with nothing to spare in November, is playing on a sponsor's invitation and could yet reignite his career in dramatic fashion.
He had birdied the fourth and sixth before his slip at the ninth and picked up more strokes on the 11th, 12th and 16th thanks to a 25ft putt.
"Obviously when you bogey the last, it's never nice," admitted Brier. "But I just had a really bad shot and deserved the bad lie there, so I had no chance going for three. It happens, and the rest was good.
"I made a few crunch putts at the end, especially 16, 17 was good. I got a bit lazy with my shots at the end, but I managed to keep my score good, and just one shot back is nothing."
South African Thomas Aiken is in fourth place on seven under, four behind, and one further back come 2009 winner Alvaro Quiros and England's Richard Finch.

SCOTSWATCH
Steven O'Hara (69 for 211) and Paul Lawrie (71 for 211) are lying joint seventh with 18 holes to go, six shots off the pace - perhaps too many to win on Sunday but with a high-enough platform to achieve a top three or four finish.
O'Hara covered the last 13 holes in a bogey-free, four under par with birdies at the sixth, 10th, 11th and 12th.
Lawrie covered the last six in two under par with birdies at the 13th and 16th.
Paul writes on his Tour Blog:
"It was a bit of a frustrating day but not bad. I finished with a 71 to be -5 for the tournament. The weather forecast says they'll be a lot of wind tomorrow so anything can still happen. I hit lots of greens but just couldn't get them close enough." THIRD-ROUND LEADERBOARD

Par 216 (3x72)
205 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 74 65 66.
206 Markus Brier (Austria) 71 66 69.
208 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 70 69 69.
209 Thomas Aiken (S Africa) 71 69 69.
210 Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 75 69 66, Richard Finch (England) 70 69 71.
211 Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spain) 77 68 66, Steven O'Hara (Scotland) 73 69 69, Louis Oosthuizen (S Africa) 73 69 66, Paul Lawrie (Scotland) 74 66 71.

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OTHER SCOIS' COMPLETED THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72)
214 Stephen Gallacher 72 73 69, David Drysdale 71 71 72 (T19)
217 Peter Whiteford 75 70 72 (T47)219 Andrew Coltart 74 72 73, Richie Ramsay 75 70 74 (T61).