Hopes high for home victory in French Open

Twelve months after Jean-Francois Remesy became the first home winner of the French Open since 1969 a multi-pronged attack on the title was being made today.

Not only did Francois Delamontagne move alongside halfway leader Eduardo Romero, but just one behind entering the closing stretch of the third round at Le Golf National were Jean van de Velde and defending champion Remesy.

Romero, at 50 trying to become the oldest winner in tour history, resumed two ahead, but went in the lake at the 380-yard first and also bogeyed the short second.

The Argentinian came back with three birdies to turn in 35, but others had accepted the chance to move into contention.

Delamontagne, ranked only 340th in the world and yet to win on tour, had three birdies in the first five and after bogeying the seventh picked up another stroke at the 350-yard 10th.

They were both 10 under par, while van de Velde's chip-in for a birdie at the ninth put him right on their heels and Remesy, five adrift when he teed off, eagled the third and birdied the 10th and 12th to get into the hunt for the £390,888 first prize.

Van de Velde is the best known of the three Frenchmen, of course. He was poised to win the 1999 Open at Carnoustie, but triple-bogeyed the last and now finds himself without a European Tour card after two knee operations.

Victory tomorrow would totally change that, of course, and he was receiving fantastic support in his bid from the fans.

Colin Montgomerie might have expected to be part of the challenge for the trophy by keeping a bogey off his card, but he had only one birdie and at 70 for two under was almost certainly too far back.

"Unfortunately I'm not holing enough putts, so that was that," he said.

"I'm striking the ball OK, just not getting the ball in the hole.

"It's quite a tough course to get round without a bogey, so that was good. Never mind - I'll try again tomorrow." And with that he headed straight into the creche, although which toys he opted for remains a mystery.

Romero was in the process of transforming a season which until this week saw him miss five out of six halfway cuts. He has earned just £5,500 and is 248th on the Order of Merit.

He had even contemplated whether to switch to seniors golf, which he became eligible for last July, but decided he still enjoyed the main tour too much to give it up.

Ireland's Des Smyth became the tour's oldest champion in Madeira in 2001 just after his 48th birthday.

Romero, described by Dane Soren Hansen as "the old gangster", is nearly three years older, but he finished second and third last season and has lost almost a stone by eating meat just once a week.

He has also returned to yoga and this week has been focusing on the picture of a golf hole on the wall of his hotel room.

"It's about the size of my hat and I have a mental picture of the ball going in. Every morning I do 20 minutes or half an hour concentration," the South American said.

Van de Velde made a six-foot putt for birdie at the long 14th.

And when Remesy, in the group ahead, converted a 25-foot chance on the 15th, all three Frenchmen were alongside Romero on 10-under.

Delamontagne missed from under three feet at the 15th and Van de Velde did well to rescue a bogey at the 175-yard 16th, fluffing his first chip and then thinning his second eight feet past.

That left Romero and Remesy sharing top spot on 10 under.