Els and Clarke chasing big cheque

Ernie Els and Darren Clarke, first and second on the European Order of Merit, both had their eyes on one of the circuit’s biggest cheques in Scotland today.

With six holes of his third round to play at Kingsbarns Clarke was 14 under par and tied for the lead with New Zealander Michael Campbell, already in with a 66.

Only one behind, though, were Els, his fellow South African Richard Sterne and also back-to-form Lee Westwood.

The former European number one, who came close to crashing out of the world’s top 250 in a nightmare two-year slump, was seven under for the day with one to go – also at Kingsbarns – and proving beyond doubt that his win in Munich last month was the start of a real revival.

Clarke and Els were playing the same course. The Ulsterman had an eagle and five birdies, but also two bogeys, in the first 12 holes, while Els – round in 65 at St Andrews yesterday – had already added six more birdies and still had seven to go.

Also six under for the day was Colin Montgomerie in a brave bid to make the cut, which this week is made after three rounds and only to the top 60 because of the celebrity pro-am format.

Montgomerie began the day 129th but charged to joint 72nd and probably needed two more birdies over the closing seven holes.

First prize is nearly €730,000 and that would take Clarke out in front in the money list race with a month to go.

Next week’s American Express World Championship in Atlanta, with more than a million dollars to the winner, could settle the issue.