Garcia surges into contention

Defending champion Sergio Garcia was an ominous presence on the leaderboard in the third round of the Omega European Masters today.

Garcia has had eight top-10 finishes this season, including third in the US PGA and fifth in the Open at Hoylake, where he played in the last group with eventual winner Tiger Woods.

Such form has helped establish the Spanish star as Europe’s top player at number eight in the world and secured his place in the Ryder Cup team to defend the trophy in less than a fortnight at the K Club.

But the 26-year-old is still seeking his first title of the year and can think of no better place to do so than in the picturesque mountain town where he owns an apartment overlooking the course.

Starting the day two shots off the lead, Garcia made the perfect start with a birdie on the first but then bogeyed the second after a wild approach to the green.

He then had to chip in to save par on the fifth after his approach was pulled left of the green and ended up against a fence, but then fired three birdies in the space of four holes from the next to reach the turn in 33 at eight under par.

Ever the perfectionist, Garcia was annoyed not to hole his bunker shot on the 10th, the ball pulling up an inch short of the hole, but par was good enough to keep him within three shots of the lead held by Germany’s Marcel Siem.

Siem, one of the halfway leaders, had picked up four birdies on the front nine to improve to 11 under par, two ahead of playing partner Bradley Dredge who birdied the first three holes but then ran up a double bogey six on the fourth.

Garcia shared third place with Italian Francesco Molinari, winner of the Italian Open earlier this season.

Australian Brett Rumford had set the clubhouse target on seven under par. The 29-year-old from Perth took full advantage of the perfect conditions to race to the turn in just 30 shots and eventually carded a 64, the lowest round of the week so far.

“I don’t know where it came from,” admitted Rumford, winner of the Irish Open in 2004. “I had four weeks off prior to Munich so came back a little rusty.

“I had a chat to my caddie yesterday as I was two over with three to play and outside the cut, and finished birdie-parbirdie,” revealed Rumford, winner of the Irish Open in 2004.

“My game was suggesting I was playing better than the score showed and I thought five or six under today would put me right back in this. I’m in a position to hopefully win the tournament if the guys don’t get too carried away.”