Dodd leads despite triple bogey

Stephen Dodd paid a heavy price for one shot in his third round of the Volvo China Open in Shanghai today – but at the end of it the 38-year-old Welshman was still on course for his first European Tour victory.

Dodd, three ahead at halfway, triple-bogeyed the 408-yard seventh after his eight-iron flew the green, hit a bank and went into water.

With Dane Soren Hansen having three successive birdies from the sixth, Dodd went from two in front to one behind. But Hansen promptly bogeyed the next two holes while the Cardiff player covered the remaining 11 in three under.

By getting up and down from sand on the par five last Dodd was round in a two under 70 and with 18 holes to play stands eight under and still three clear.

Now, however, it is not only Hansen, but also pre-tournament favourite Thomas Bjorn who heads the pursuit of him.

Bjorn, who turned down the chance to win a million dollars in South Korea this week to play for a first prize of only €127,769, moved up from eighth to joint second with a 68. He grabbed a hat-trick of birdies from the 14th, but then three-putted the final hole for par.

Hansen, playing with a hairline fracture of the little finger on his left hand suffered playing basketball nine days ago, matched Dodd’s 70.

Bradley Dredge stands four under, which means that two Welshmen and two Danes fill the top four places in the opening event of the new European Order of Merit season.

Dodd said: "You need to be a bit lucky sometimes, but I wasn't on the seventh. I got a bit of a flyer and there's nothing you can do about that.

“Obviously I’m pleased to stay three in front, but I didn’t drive very well and I want to go and work on that. I’ve never led with a round to play before and we will see what happens.”

Dodd turned professional in 1989 after winning the British amateur title and being part of the first Britain and Ireland Walker Cup side to triumph on American soil.

He had to make 10 trips to the qualifying school before establishing himself, but his 58th place on the season just ended was the best of his career.

Asked if he had expected more of himself sooner he replied: “I think other people did. It just takes time to adjust and thankfully I feel it’s improving all the time.”

The closest he came to a win was a runner-up finish behind German Tobias Dier in the 2001 North West of Ireland Open.

Bjorn has decided to relinquish his membership of the US Tour to focus more on Europe – for family as well as golfing reasons.

The father-of-three, who in July talked of “fighting demons” when he walked off the K Club in Dublin during the European Open, returned to form with a second place behind Ernie Els in the American Express world championship at the start of last month.

Last week he was seventh behind Tiger Woods in Japan, but decided to travel to China rather than to Korea for a US Tour-sanctioned special event heavily criticised by the Asian Tour.

“Thank God I’m not a politician,” said Bjorn. “I felt Japan-China-Hong Kong was the way for me to move. My wife would be a lot happier if I won in Korea, but there are no world ranking points there.”

Dredge, who spent nine hours in Hong Kong Airport on Tuesday waiting to see if he would be issued with a visa into China, was joint leader after an opening 67, but had fallen back with a second round 75 played in freezing cold and wind.

“I’ve kept myself in there and I’m happy with that, but I played shocking,” he said. “I was twice in water (on the seventh and 10th) that I hadn’t even registered was in play. It shouldn’t have been, but I hit it so wide.”

Scotland’s Thailand-based Simon Yates is in a tie for fifth with English pair Barry Lane and Mark Foster, South Korean Joon Chung and France’s Gregory Havret, whose 67 was the best of the day.

But Matthew King, the 28-year-old from Lincolnshire playing only his second tour event, fell back from second to 26th with a 77.