Unknown Italian holds lead at Wales Open

With the leaders struggling to cope with the blustery wind and rain at the Wales Open the lead was held by little-known Italian Alessandro Tadini today.

Ryder Cup captain Ian Woosnam recovered from a terrible start to close in on his first strokeplay victory for eight years after a “brutal” third day of theCeltic Manor.

Woosnam bogeyed the first three holes at Celtic Manor but played the next 15 in four under par for a 68 and seven under total of 200.

Spanish duo Miguel Angel Jimenez and Jose Manuel Lara and France’s Jean-Francois Lucquin were alongside Woosnam in second place, with David Lynn a shot further back on six under.

Nick Dougherty and Australian Terry Price were on five under after posting superb rounds of 65, the lowest of the day.

Woosnam, whose last tournament win came in the PGA Championship at Wentworth in 1997 – although he did win the World Match Play at the same venue in 2001 - joked: “I saw a hypnotist in Dubai once and he said if I didn’t work with him I wouldn’t win! I haven’t been able to find him since.

“Winning is the goal I’ve had for a long time and it would be such a boost to my confidence.

“It was one of those days when you had to battle and I think my Welsh battling came out today and it was great to have the crowd behind me.”

Woosnam admitted he was still struggling with the short putts which have become his Achilles heel in recent years – he calls his putter ’The Black Devil’, – and revealed he had to change his grip after missing a short par putt on the first hole.

“I thought ‘Great, I’ve been practising my putting all night and I’m off to a great start,” added the former world number one, who will captain the European side at the K Club in Dublin next year.

“I had to go cross-handed straight away but I knew if I kept on battling that even three over par would not have been too bad and I scrambled well from then on.

“I didn’t play well today and I’ll have to play better tomorrow. But maybe that’s my bad round out of the way.”

More than three hours before the leaders had even ventured out, Dougherty had hauled himself into contention for his second victory of the season.

Dougherty, who claimed his maiden European Tour title in Singapore earlier this year, fired three birdies and an eagle and was delighted to drop just one shot in the tough conditions.

“Overall four under for the round is a great score,” said the 23-year-old Liverpudlian, who finished alongside Surrey’s James Heath, a fellow protégé of Nick Faldo and graduate of the six-time major winner’s junior series.

“I have certainly moved up already and as long as the weather stays close to what it is at the moment I cannot see myself going backwards.

“As long as I am within three shots or so who knows? It would be a great one to win from being one under after two rounds.”

On the conditions, the former Walker Cup star added: “It was brutal out there.

“There is plenty of danger and big numbers lurking if you are a bit off your game. When the squalls come in the wind really gets up. The 16th was downwind and playing quite short and I hit a driver and six-iron to the back of the green to set up an eagle.

“But on the 17th a squall came in and with the rain it played so long. There are not many par fours I can’t reach in two but I had no chance there, even hitting two drivers.

“There was a 100-yard difference between the drives on those holes – 330 yards on the 16th and 232 up the 17th.”

Tadini had gone into the third round with a two-shot lead and did well to recover from three bogeys and a double bogey in an outward nine of 39 to retain the lead.

The AC Milan fan came home in 33 with birdies at the 13th and 14th.