Van de Velde out in front

Jean Van de Velde raced into a three-shot lead in the Madeira Island Open after a confident start in the third round.

The Frenchman, joint overnight leader with Jarmo Sandelin, moved to 12 under for the tournament with birdies at 14 and 16 to go out in 34.

It has been 13 years since Van de Velde last entered the winner’s enclosure in a major event, his solitary European Tour title coming at the Roma Masters and that remains his one and only triumph on the European Tour.

He is, of course, most famous for his collapse at the 1999 Open at Carnoustie when he needed only a six at the 72nd hole to lift the Claret Jug but had a triple-bogey seven and lost in a play-off to Paul Lawrie.

Sandelin dropped a shot at the 17th to go back to nine under and alongside Garry Houston.

The 34-year-old Welshman birdied three of his first four holes only to bogey the 15th.

Houston has spent the last few months playing in the Middle East and Asia with limited success, missing the cut in his last event – the Singapore Masters - having finished joint 19th in the Indonesia Open.

He looked in danger of losing his card last season but tied for fourth in the Omega European Masters to finish 100th in the Order of Merit.

Lying one shot further back on eight under were Simon Wakefield, Tom Whitehouse and Damien McGrane.

The players had been left frustrated because of bad weather at the hilltop Santo da Serra course, which caused a four-hour delay.

The opening two groups were immediately hampered by poor visibility and had to return to the clubhouse after playing the first hole.

Gary Murphy and Felipe Aguilar of Chile, as well as South Africa’s Hennie Otto and Stuart Little were the ones affected.