Bjorn believes in Open opportunity

Mark Roe has the sympathies – millions of them from golf followers all around the world – but Thomas Bjorn has the lead going into the final round of the 132nd Open championship.

Fifteen majors have come and gone since Europe last had a winner, but Bjorn has the opportunity to end that barren spell when he goes out one stroke ahead of American Davis Love at Royal St George’s tomorrow afternoon.

It should have been Roe and world number one Tiger Woods playing ahead of them, but in an incident that will be recalled for as long as the 143-year-old tournament is played, Roe was disqualified along with playing partner Jesper Parnevik for forgetting to exchange their scorecards.

The 40-year-old from Sheffield was close to tears after a 67 which would have left him joint third, only two behind, was removed from the record books less than 30 minutes later.

He knows that at this advanced stage of his career the chance may never come again.

But for Bjorn it comes now, after a third-round 69 made him the only player under par after 54 drama-packed holes.

“This is where you want to be. There’s no doubt about it and I just hope I can play as well as I did today,” said the 32-year-old Dane.

“I really felt comfortable out there and I had a lot of belief in myself. I’m really happy with what I did.

“I felt so solid and hit it well off the tee, which is the key.”

He is one under, Love level and Woods joint third with his fellow Americans Kenny Perry and Ben Curtis, Fiji’s Vijay Singh and also Spain’s Sergio Garcia, whose incredible par at the 17th providing the most electric moment on the course.

Off the course, everybody’s hearts went out to Roe – and to Parnevik, of course – because of the strict enforcement of a rule which ruined his hopes of a fairytale victory tomorrow nine years on from his last victory in any event.

Woods, who will play with Singh now, is back as favourite after a 69 of his own in which he provided thrills aplenty for the sun-drenched crowd.

Although his opening round will be remembered for a triple-bogey seven on the first after losing his drive and his second round for four-putting the 12th, he was only four behind at halfway.

From being a face in the rear-view mirror Woods took over at the top in dramatic fashion with two eagles.

The first was routine, a drive and superb iron onto the green at the long fourth and 25-foot putt. The next most definitely was not.

At the 532-yard seventh his approach from the right-hand rough ran across the fairway and curled round into the back of a bunker. Thirty yards from the flag it looked a tough shot just to get it close, but when it hit the flag and dropped in Woods raised both arms into the air in triumph.

He was one under and ahead by one with overnight leader Love three-putting the first – which became two when, following a superb bunker save at the eighth, he rolled in a 30-footer on the ninth to turn in 31.

The back nine was not the fearsome proposition of the first two days, but it is still far tougher than the front and Woods bogeyed the 11th and 13th.

He hit back with another birdie at the 550-yard 14th, but further dropped shots came at the 15th and 17th.

By then, though, Bjorn was the one everyone was trying to catch.

The Dane, joint runner-up to Woods at St Andrews three years ago, beat him in a 72-hole head-to-head in Dubai the following season, but has disappointed since and is determined to put that right.

Returning to Europe’s Ryder Cup team last September raised Bjorn’s sights again, but he has not won since. This would be some tournament to pick to change that.

Joint second when he resumed, he matched Woods’ eagle on the fourth and after bogeying the short sixth achieved the expected birdie on the easily reachable next.

As others had their adventures good and bad Bjorn went on a run of pars, every one of them an achievement not just because of the difficulty of the course, but also the pressure of the situation he had placed himself in.

Woods’ problems had made him outright leader as he entered the gruelling closing stretch and he was able to handle it.

This was the third round, not the last one, though. Tomorrow is the ultimate test, of course.