Bjorn banishes bunker nightmare

Four days after losing the Open championship from three ahead with four to play, Thomas Bjorn took the lead in the Nissan Irish Open today – by holing a bunker shot of all things.

In the biggest moment of his career at Royal St George’s, the 32-year-old Dane needed three attempts to get out of sand on the 16th hole of his final round.

He had also incurred a two-stroke penalty in a bunker on the opening day, so Bjorn could only smile when he splashed out of a trap at Portmarnock’s second hole – his 11th of the day – and saw the ball roll up to the flag and drop in.

That made him joint leader of the £1.2million event and, when he followed with another birdie, Bjorn moved one ahead of New Zealander Michael Campbell and English trio Paul Broadhurst, Ian Poulter and Gary Emerson.

Moments later, however, Broadhurst birdied the 15th to move back into a tie for top spot at five under par.

Only three behind was Sheffield’s Mark Roe, also trying to put some of his painful Sandwich experience behind him.

“Is this MY card?” asked Roe out loud as he walked onto the tee and was handed a scorecard by the official starter.

In an Open plot twist that will never be forgotten by golf followers around the globe – or by the 40-year-old himself – Roe was disqualified on Saturday when he and playing partner Jesper Parnevik forgot to exchange cards and therefore filled in the wrong scores.

It was a particularly heart-breaking blow for Roe. While Parnevik had crashed out of contention with an 81, the Yorkshireman had scored a 67 and would have been joint third and paired with Tiger Woods for the final round.

This time he and partners Malcolm Mackenzie and Costantino Rocca swapped cards before driving off, the European tour having decided to stick with the normal practice of giving each player their own.

One spectator caught Rocca’s attention and said: “Make sure he’s got the right card.”

The Italian wagged his finger disapprovingly, but Roe was joking about the situation.

He received a warm reception when his name was announced and tipped his cap appreciatively to the small number of fans after hitting a corker of a drive.

Roe turned in a level par 36, but then had birdies at the second and fifth.

Tournament and local favourite Padraig Harrington was one under after 12, but Darren Clarke double-bogeyed the first – his 10th – and needed birdies at two of the next three just to be one over.

Meanwhile, Andy Sutton, who caddied for shock Open champion Ben Curtis, was back with his usual boss John Bickerton – and returned a one under par 71.

“I was on such a high after what happened at the weekend and, now the adrenalin is starting to come out, I’m feeling drained,” said Sutton, who had never met Curtis until picking up his bag.

“I’m still being asked to do interviews and I’m enjoying my five minutes of fame. Everyone’s been congratulating me and we had a bit of a laugh on the course today.

“At one point John went in a bunker and I joked to Dave Howell (another of the group): ‘Ben would never have done that’. John just smiled at me.”