Loch Lomond, July 13: Ernie Els stayed on course on Saturday (July 12) for his fifth title of the year, firing a four-under-par 67 to forge five clear of the field in the Scottish Open third round. The British Open champion, following opening scores of 64 and 67, mixed five birdies with a bogey in calm but overcast conditions at par-71 Loch Lomond, finishing at 15-under 198. Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke fired a six-birdie 64 to climb to second place at 10-under 203, level with Britain's Phillip Price, Els's playing partner on the day, who returned a 68. South African Els picked up shots at the third and ninth to reach the turn in two-under 34, at that point still four ahead of the chasing pack. Further birdies followed at the 345-yard 14th, where he drove the green, and at 15, but the world number two then dropped his only shot of the day at the par-four 16th, where he missed the green with his approach. However, he bounced back with a fifth birdie at the last to stay on track for his second Scottish Open title, his first coming at the same venue in 2000.


Earlier, 1992 champion Peter O'Malley fired a flawless nine-under-par 62 to rocket up the leaderboard at eight-under 205, having begun the day 12 strokes behind Els. However his score, which equalled his career-low round set at the 1992 Scottish Open at Gleneagles, will not officially match the course record fired by Retief Goosen in 1997 as preferred lies were in operation for the second successive day.

He holed putts from around six metres for birdies at the second and third holes, and picked up further shots at four and five on his way to an outward nine of four-under 36. He struck a five-iron approach to three metres at the par-four 10th for birdie number five, and accurate iron play set up four more at 13, 14 15 and at the last.


Leading scores after the third round (Britain unless stated): 198 Ernie Els (South Africa) 64 67 67 203 Darren Clarke 69 70 64, Phillip Price 67 68 68 205 Peter O'Malley (Australia) 67 76 62 206 Peter Lonard (Australia) 70 68 68, Ian Poulter 70 68 68 207 Tim Clark (South Africa) 68 68 71, Bradley Dredge 69 68 70, Alastair Forsyth 72 69 66, Gary Murphy (Ireland) 70 69 68, Terry Price (Australia) 67 68 72, Iain Pyman 69 71 67, Shaun Webster 72 68 67 208 Martin Maritz (South Africa) 67 71 70 209 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 72 70 67, Nick O'Hern (Australia) 72 72 65, David Howell 66 73 70, Robert Karlsson (Sweden) 71 69 69, Carl Pettersson (Sweden) 69 72 68 210 Brian Davis 71 70 69, Gary Evans 71 71 68, Raphael Jacquelin (France) 72 70 68, David Lynn 70 70 70, Charl Schwartzel (South Africa) 75 68 67, Lee Westwood 71 72 67


Bureau Report