Forest of Arden, June 08: Britain's Greg Owen has a chance to lose his 'nearly-man' label after taking a four-shot lead in the British Masters third round on Saturday. The strapping 31-year-old has flattered to deceive on the European Tour during his six-year career but could finally break his duck after a five-under-par 67 took him four strokes clear of Australian left-hander Richard Green and fellow-Englishman Ian Poulter. Owen suffered a 'twinge' in his ribs when playing the sixth which he said would need stretching exercises to prevent a recurrence, but his chief obstacle to his maiden win could be Poulter. Last week's Wales Open winner is threatening successive victories after equalling the Forest of Arden course record 63 earlier in the day. Leader Owen has had four third places but his best chance of winning came seven weeks ago when he led the Algarve Portuguese Open for three rounds, was ahead by two shots with five holes to go and shared the lead on the 72nd tee, only to slip to fifth.


He shared the second round lead this week with Green and his bogey on the second hole in the third round was his first dropped shot of the week, his first for 70 holes including Celtic Manor last week.


An eagle on the long 17th to go with four birdies following his early bogey, put Owen in bullish mood for the final push for his first title.


"Portugal upset me and I want to make amends," he said. "There's no point plodding around being third or fourth.



"I was very calm and I hope to be tomorrow. Portugal taught me a few things. I got a bit uptight."

Although Poulter shot a 61 when winning the Italian Open last year, he rated this round better.


"This was probably my best chance to shoot a 59. I missed five putts from eight feet -- it was a massive chance."


Last week when he claimed his fourth tour title, Poulter was suffering from tonsillitis and was consequently less aggressive, and a switch back to less aggression paid off, he said.


"For the first two rounds here I was trying to hit the ball too hard again and lost rhythm."


Poulter's meteoric rise up the money-list -- he climbed from 135th to 14th with last week's Celtic Manor triumph -- threatens to continue.


After missing five out of six cuts before Wales while swing changes with David Leadbetter took effect, the 2000 rookie of the year is now sure his game has the consistency he craved when he went to the respected coach who turned his role-model Nick Faldo into a major champion.


Two more Englishmen share fourth place a further stroke back, David Lynn and Matthew Blackey, who established an early two-shot lead before fading.


Germany's Marcel Siem dropped from a share of sixth place on seven-under when he incurred a two-shot penalty for illegally putting 'mallet-fashion', the third player to fall foul of the rule in just over a year.


Leading scores after the third round of the British Masters golf tournament at the par-72 Forest of Arden course on Saturday (Britain unless stated): 203 Greg Owen 68 68 67 207 Ian Poulter 71 73 63, Richard Green (Australia) 70 66 71 208 Matthew Blackey 70 68 70, David Lynn 66 71 71 209 Christian Cevaer (France) 73 70 66, Anthony Wall 72 70 67, Jamie Donaldson 70 71 68, Barry Lane 73 68 68, Peter Fowler (Australia) 65 75 69, Mikael Lundberg (Sweden) 69 69 71, Darren Fichardt (South Africa) 72 66 71 210 Mathias Gronberg (Sweden) 73 71 66, David Howell 72 71 67, Mark James 71 72 67, Brett Rumford (Australia) 71 70 69, Mark Roe 71 70 69 211 Stephen Scahill (New Zealand) 73 71 67, Jorge Berendt (Argentina) 72 72 67, Peter Baker 69 74 68, Jarmo Sandelin (Sweden) 67 76 68, Philip Golding 69 73 69, Brian Davis 72 70 69, Andrew Coltart 68 73 70, Stephen Gallacher 69 71 71 212 Charlie Wi (South Korea) 72 72 68, Fredrik Andersson (Sweden) 74 70 68, Nick O'Hern (Australia) 72 70 70, Robert Rock 73 69 70, James Kingston (South Africa) 72 70 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spain) 67 72 73


Bureau Report