B&H Open Golf: Birdie blitz puts Lara in spotlight

Spanish golfer Jose Manuel Lara played the first 12 holes of his third round in five-under-par at the Benson and Hedges International Open at The Belfry.

Having survived the halfway cut with nothing to spare at one over, the 23-year-old from Valencia charged to four under and into a share of 11th place.

At that stage, of course, none of the overnight pacesetters, led by Swede Henrik Stenson on 10 under, had even begun to prepare for their day’s work.

One of Lara’s birdies came on the famous 10th, where the hole had been reduced from 311 yards to 260 to tempt players to try to carry the lake and make the green.

There were birdies to be found all over the Ryder Cup course in the sunshine, however.

Argentina’s Eduardo Romero started with four in a row to join Lara, but then bogeyed the sixth.

Darren Clarke, another who breathed a sigh of relief when he made the cut, bogeyed the first, but birdied the next three and then added another on the ninth to turn in 33 at two under.

And twice English amateur champion Paul Casey, now a professional and making his European tour debut, followed an error-ridden outward 40 by starting for home with a hat-trick and birdies and then picking up a fourth at the long 15th to get back to one over.

Stenson, runaway winner of the Challenge Tour from which Lara also qualified last season, held a three-stroke advantage over Dane Thomas Bjorn after his rounds of 66 and 68.

Ryder Cup captain Sam Torrance, South African Desvonde Botes and Dubliner Paul McGinley shared third spot on six under, four behind.