Ryder Cup heroes track Els

Ernie Els easily saw off the challenge of one European Ryder Cup hero today - but now faces an attack from three of them in the final round of the American Express world championship.

With a round to go at Mount Juliet in County Kilkenny the world number three stands on the 15 under par total of 201.

Miguel Angel Jimenez lost his head-to-head with Els by seven strokes after he went in the lake at the last and double-bogeyed for a 75, but Thomas Bjorn, Padraig Harrington and David Howell all fired 66s.

Back-to-form Bjorn, who on his last trip to Ireland in July walked off the course and spoke of “fighting demons” in his head, lies second on 13 under, while Harrington and Howell are one shot further back along with Todd Hamilton, the American who beat Els in a play-off for the Open in July.

Els is trying for the first solo World Golf Championships victory of his career – and if he achieves it he will knock Tiger Woods out of the world number two spot. And this just a month after Woods saw his five-year reign at the top ended by Vijay Singh.

While Els added a 68 Woods, recovering from a bad back, returned a second successive 70 and although improving from ninth place overnight to joint eighth he went from five behind to seven adrift.

Harrington is trying to kill two birds with one stone this week. He too wants his first world title and he would love to break his duck on home soil too.

“It’s obviously a big deal,” he said. “A world championship and a tour event in Ireland. But nobody wants to give Ernie a three-shot lead and there’s a lot of hard work ahead. The odds will be stacked against me.”

There is also likely to be a lot of bad weather ahead. The forecast of gales has prompted the organisers to bring forward the last-day tee-off times and the leaders will – hopefully – be starting in mid-morning than at around 2pm.

There is the possibility of the event spilling into Monday. But Harrington did say: “They never get the forecast right in Ireland. We don’t even look at it!”

Totals after the third round of the World Golf Championships-American Express Championship at Mount Juliet Conrad, Thomastown, County Kilkenny, Ireland

(Gbr and Irl unless stated, par 72):

201 Ernie Els (Rsa) 69 64 68

203 Thomas Bjorn (Den) 68 69 66

204 David Howell 69 69 66, Padraig Harrington 69 69 66, Todd Hamilton (USA) 66 69 69

205 Retief Goosen (Rsa) 68 69 68

206 Sergio Garcia (Spa) 67 72 67

208 Darren Clarke 71 72 65, Zach Johnson (USA) 68 71 69, Tiger Woods (USA) 68 70 70, Lee Westwood 68 69 71

209 Peter Lonard (Aus) 69 70 70, Luke Donald 67 71 71

210 Fred Couples (USA) 73 67 70, Brad Faxon (USA) 70 68 72, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 67 68 75

211 Stewart Cink (USA) 71 73 67, Jerry Kelly (USA) 69 73 69, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 67 74 70, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa) 71 70 70, Jim Furyk (USA) 70 70 71, Steve Flesch (USA) 67 70 74

212 David Toms (USA) 70 74 68, Davis Love (USA) 74 69 69, Angel Cabrera (Arg) 69 69 74

213 Alex Cejka (Ger) 70 74 69, Jay Haas (USA) 72 71 70, Paul Casey 72 70 71, Barry Lane 69 72 72, Bob Tway (USA) 71 70 72, Scott Drummond 69 71 73, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn) 70 70 73, Justin Leonard (USA) 68 68 77

214 Chris DiMarco (USA) 69 75 70, Trevor Immelman (Rsa) 71 71 72, Richard Green (Aus) 72 70 72, Adam Scott (Aus) 67 74 73

215 Mark Hensby (Aus) 73 73 69, Stephen Ames (Tri) 73 72 70, Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 71 73

216 Andrew McLardy (Rsa) 73 73 70, Paul McGinley 70 75 71, Jonathan Kaye (USA) 70 73 73, Nick O’Hern (Aus) 68 73 75, Carlos Franco (Par) 69 72 75

217 Thongchai Jaidee (Thai) 71 75 71, Thomas Levet (Fra) 73 71 73, Peter Senior (Aus) 69 74 74, Robert Allenby (Aus) 68 74 75, Desvonde Botes (Rsa) 70 72 75

218 Charles Howell (USA) 74 73 71, Chris Riley (Aus) 70 75 73, Graeme McDowell 73 70 75, Jean-Francois Remesy (Fra) 72 71 75

219 Arjun Atwal (Ind) 71 78 70, Stephen Leaney (Aus) 73 75 71, SK Ho (S Kor) 71 76 72

220 Chad Campbell (USA) 70 79 71, Tim Herron (USA) 73 75 72

221 Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 76 71 74, Andre Stolz (Aus) 70 76 75

222 Yong-eun Yang (S Kor) 75 76 71, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe) 74 76 72, KJ Choi (S Kor) 71 76 75

224 Michael Campbell (Nzl) 74 77 73

225 Scott Verplank (USA) 71 82 72

228 Zhang Lian-wei (Chi) 75 77 76

231 Shingo Katayama (Jpn) 79 76 76