Daly fights back

John Daly today refused to give up his BMW International Open title without a fight in the delayed third round in Munich.

Heavy mist caused a three-hour delay to play this morning and forced tournament officials to make a new draw, putting the players in groups of three instead of two in an attempt to make up the lost time.

Daly was still one of the first players out on the Nord-Eichenried course however after making the cut with nothing to spare.

The former Open champion, whose 27-under-par winning total last year equalled the European Tour record, had to birdie his final hole on Friday to make the cut right on the mark of four under.

It left him nine shots off the overnight lead held by English trio Ian Poulter, Jamie Spence and Richard Bland, but a battling 65 reduced his deficit to just three shots as the leaders progressed through the front nine.

Daly, who took up European Tour membership at the start of the season and is exempt until the end of 2005 thanks to his Open win at St Andrews in 1995, birdied the first and picked up further shots at the fourth and fifth.

At 481 yards, the par-five sixth is easily in reach of the double-major champion in two and an obvious birdie opportunity, but the 36-year-old could only manage a par five to remain six shots off the pace.

He did reach the 557-yard ninth with two massive blows however and comfortably two-putted for a fourth birdie of the day to be out in 32.

His first bogey of the day was not far away however, his approach to the tough 472-yard par four 10th coming up short of the green, and his pitch only just clearing a greenside bunker.

In the end he did well to hole from five feet to salvage a bogey, and was quickly back amongst the birdies on the next, pitching to five feet on the par five.

Another birdie on the 12th then took Daly to nine under for the tournament, and two more on the 16th and 18th left him on 11 under.

“I don’t know if it is going to put me in a good enough position because I’m sure the guys are going to shoot low but it felt good to go low again,” said Daly, the 1991 US PGA Champion.

“I needed a round like this to get some confidence back. I haven’t actually putted badly this week, I just haven’t made anything. Yesterday I struggled but today I made all the six and seven footers I needed to, whether they were for birdie or par.”

Four players now shared the lead on 14 under, Poulter and Spence joined by Ryder Cup team-mates Bernhard Langer and Thomas Bjorn.

Langer and Bjorn had picked up two birdies in their first six holes, while Poulter and Spence had both birdied the fifth.