St Quentin(France), June 29: Golding's third round four-under-par 68 on Saturday (June 28) took him to 12-under-par 204 for a one-stroke lead and in with a chance of emulating Malcolm Mackenzie's feat of last year when he broke a 20-year drought to win his maiden title. Overnight leader Thomas Bjorn came back from a faltering start to share in a five-way tie for second place but the Dane denied himself the shared lead for a second day by missing a closing hole birdie putt of four feet. With Bjorn are Australian Peter O'Malley, Swedish Ryder Cup player Pierre Fulke, and two more Britons, Barry Lane and David Howell. On a congested leaderboard, with Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin and Britain's Stephen Gallacher a further stroke back, Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal is in a group only three shots off the pace, looking for his second French Open win in three years. Only three strokes separates the top 11 players. Leader Golding, as he has for all his 20 years of trying to be a winner, had to dig deep to top the leaderboard for a second time in the week -- he shared the first round lead -- holing several crucial putts for pars as well as birdies. Anders Hansen, just a stroke behind compatriot Bjorn overnight, slumped to a 75 and lies seven strokes off the pace.

Leading scores: (Britain unless stated): 204 Philip Golding 66 70 68 205 Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 70 64 71, Pierre Fulke (Sweden) 70 68 67, David Howell 71 65 69, Barry Lane 70 68 67, Peter O'Malley (Australia) 70 69 66 206 Stephen Gallacher 68 69 69, Raphael Jacquelin (France) 70 68 68 207 Jose Manuel Lara (Spain) 67 69 71, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 70 68 69, Marcel Siem (Germany) 74 69 64 208 John Bickerton 69 71 68, Brian Davis 68 72 68, Robert-Jan Derksen (Netherlands) 68 74 66, Simon Dyson 70 69 69, Miguel Angel Martin (Spain) 70 68 70, Andrew Oldcorn 69 70 69 209 Richard Bland 72 67 70, Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) 66 70 73, Bradley Dredge 67 72 70, Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 71 71 67, Peter Lawrie (Ireland) 69 73 67 210 Matthew Blackey 71 71 68, Gordon Brand Jnr 70 73 67, David Carter 71 69 70, Stephen Dodd 72 67 71, Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 72 70 68, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 67 74 69, Santiago Luga (Spain) 70 70 70, Martin Maritz (South Africa) 73 70 67, Ian Poulter 75 68 67, Carlos Rodiles (Spain) 70 69 71, Justin Rose 68 69 73, Raymond Russell 71 70 69, Simon Wakefield 70 70 70

Bureau Report