Fisher leaves rivals reeling

Playing on the course where he learnt to play golf, Ross Fisher led the European Tour’s flagship event at Wentworth today after a dramatic eagle.

While Justin Rose had an early double-bogey in his third round and Padraig Harrington had problems too as he pursued a possible €1m jackpot tomorrow, 26-year-old Fisher leapt into centre stage.

One behind Rose and Argentina’s Angel Cabrera at half way, the former England amateur international, who led Tiger Woods and Ernie Els in Dubai in February until two bogeys in his last three holes, went through the green at the long fourth.

But from there Fisher, who is yet to win as a professional, sank his 25-yard chip to move to nine under par, where he was joined moments later by a birdie from his playing partner, Australian Marcus Fraser.

Cabrera, winner two years ago and also second twice in the championship, remained eight under, but Rose fell back by playing a poor chip on the third and then three-putting for a double-bogey.

Harrington, meanwhile, had three bogeys and a birdie in his first five holes and at four under found himself five off the pace.

The Dubliner is chasing not only the first prize of almost €737,000, but also a €1m bonus for the double of Irish Open and PGA titles.

Earlier Colin Montgomerie had just two words to say to waiting reporters after a disappointing end to a promising round.

Just for the record, they were: “Finished badly.”

Relieved to still be competing in the event, the three-time winner of the title moved up from 60th to 23rd with four birdies in his first 12 holes.

But Montgomerie bogeyed the 15th, ran up a six on the long 17th to drop another stroke and then three-putted the last for a par five.

It added up to a two-under-par 70 and a level-par aggregate of 216, alongside, among others, Ernie Els, who had a bizarre 72 containing two eagles, three birdies, two bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey.

At lunchtime yesterday Montgomerie appeared to be heading out – for the first time since his 1989 debut – when he finished on two over par.

But at 7.30pm last night it became clear that his two closing birdies had squeezed him into the closing 36 holes.