Portmarnock, July 27: Thomas Bjorn shares the lead going into the Irish Open final round, the second straight week the Dane has been ahead at that stage of a tournament. The Dane birdied the last hole at Portmarnock on Sunday (July 26) for a four-under-par 68, an erratic round containing eight birdies and four bogeys, as he moved to 10-under-par 206, level with New Zealand's Michael Campbell and second-round leader David Lynn of Britain. Bjorn will hope for a better result this time after the late collapse that cost him the British Open title last Sunday, when he led at Royal St George's by three strokes going to the 15th hole of his final round before a double-bogey from a bunker handed the British Open to Ben Curtis of the United States. On a see-saw afternoon at the Dublin links, six players headed the leaderboard, but Bjorn's recovery from a 74 previous day was most significant. Out in four-under-par the British Open runner-up would have led on his own without the three bogeys he mixed with three birdies over the last six holes, but the Dane put his recovery down to a big sleep.


Lynn could also relieve himself of quite a weight. Having had two previous career runner-up finishes and four top-10s this year, the 29-year-old Englishman is trying to become the European Tour's 14th first-time winner this season.


The leading trio are a shot better than Sweden's Robert Karlsson and another Briton, recent British Masters winner Greg Owen. Karlsson was another to top the leaderboard, as was Australian Peter Lonard, who finished a further shot back. Irishman Peter Lawrie, the sixth player to lead during the afternoon, disappointed a huge gallery with late dropped shots to fall three strokes off the pace.
While Bjorn tries to improve on two second places this season, Campbell, who the day before pledged himself to the European Tour, looks on a victory as 'getting a huge weight off my shoulders' following a poor season. The New Zealander is especially anxious to win in front of his parents, Maria and Thomas, who have travelled with him this week.


Leading third round scores in the 1,800,000 euros Irish Open at the par-72 Portmarnock course (British unless stated): 206 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 64 74 68, Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 66 69 71, David Lynn 69 65 72 207 Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 69 69 69, Greg Owen 68 71 68 208 Peter Lonard (Australia) 71 68 69 209 Peter Hedblom (Sweden) 70 71 68, Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 70 68 71 210 Jean-Francois Lucquin (France) 72 68 70, Ben Mason 69 71 70, Ian Poulter 70 71 69, Shaun Webster 72 71 67 211 Markus Brier (Austria) 71 71 69, Luke Donald 68 74 69, Gary Emerson 68 71 72, Simon Khan 68 73 70, Peter O'Malley (Australia) 70 69 72, Sven Struver (Germany) 71 71 69, Greg Turner (New Zealand) 71 71 69, Lee Westwood 70 72 69 212 Paul Broadhurst 67 74 71, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 73 68 71, Maarten Lafeber (Netherlands) 72 69 71, Gary Murphy (Ireland) 74 68 70, Mark Pilkington 76 67 69, Andrew Raitt 70 72 70, Raymond Russell 71 73 68, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 71 71 70


Bureau Report