British Open: Clarke and Smyth still in contention

The final round of the British Open gets underway today at the Royal Lytham golf course with a massive 19 players still within two shots of the top of the leaderboard and four players tied for the lead.

Veterans Ian Woosnam and Bernard Langer are both looking to claim Ryder Cup spots as well as another major and they are two of the players tied for the lead on six-under-par, alongside Alex Cejka of Germany and David Duval from the US.

However, the four leaders are closely followed by a bunch of nine players on five-under-par that includes such big name players as Nick Price, Colin Montgomerie, Jasper Parnevik and Ireland's Darren Clarke.

Clarke enjoyed his second successive 69 and, despite suffering a bogey towards the end of his round, he remains well in contention.

Another Irishman, Des Smyth, is also well placed on four-under-par alongside Sergio Garcia and Ernie Els.

Of the other Irish players who made the cut, Padraig Harrington had another disappointing day on the punishing links course to head into the final day on two-over-par after a three-over-par 74 and Paul McGinley has dropped back to level par after a promising first round score.