Levet eyes first tour win in three years

Former Ryder Cup star Thomas Levet, who feared for his career at the start of the season, could tomorrow celebrate his first victory for three years.

The 38-year-old Frenchman is still recovering from a vertigo problem so bad he told his wife she might have to start working again.

But despite his daily battle with fatigue Levet goes into the final round of the BMW International Open in Munich in joint third place, only two behind Swede Niclas Fasth and Portugal Jose-Filipe Lima.

Levet, tied with England’s Nick Dougherty and 47-year-old South African David Frost, was absolutely livid with himself at the end, though.

Having climbed into a share of the lead with five birdies in eight holes he bogeyed the short 17th and then dropped another shot at the 568-yard last, a hole which Dougherty had just eagled with a 15-foot putt.

“I was stupid at the last hole and so was my caddie,” he said after putting his tee shot into sand and then finding rough. “No way should you hit driver.

“It’s such a pity. I made a super comeback and it was all going my way, but then I let it go.”

He had to be content with a level par 72, while Lima returned a 70 and halfway leader Fasth a 73.

It was in July last year that Levet, loser of a five-hole play-off to Ernie Els in the 2002 Open at Muirfield, was laid low by illness.

He had to stop playing because he was losing balance “100 times a day” and described his condition as like “a hamster spinning on its wheel. Except I’m not the hamster, I’m the wheel.”

Levet needed a medical exemption on the US Tour and, 184th on last year’s European Order of Merit, kept his card purely through from his career earnings of £3.6million.

He lies 198th on this year’s money list after deciding to focus on this side of the Atlantic, but has returned this week to the course on which he finished runner-up to Miguel Angel Jimenez in 2004 and third behind John Daly and Padraig Harrington in 2001.

Fasth, top European in finishing fifth at last week's US Open, led by three after an opening birdie, but as a strong wind arrived he bogeyed four of the next eight holes for an outward 38.

Lima, having double-bogeyed the short eighth, leapt into the lead with an eagle on the 556-yard 11th and was ahead on his own again with a birdie at the 15th, but Fasth two-putted the last to catch him on 11 under par.

Dougherty described his play as “all over the shop” on the back nine, but the closing eagle transformed his position.

“I need to get some work done – I didn’t play anywhere near as well as I hoped I would,” commented the 25-year-old, himself seventh at Oakmont last Sunday.

“Hopefully I can fix it before the final round.”

Joint sixth are Scot Alastair Forsyth, Argentina’s Ricardo Gonzalez and Swede Peter Hanson.

Forsyth, 40th at halfway, had a best-of-the-day 67 and was back in his hotel room watching a box set of “The Sopranos” as the leaders battled with the increasingly difficult conditions.

“It can blow all it wants – I won’t have any complaints at all,” he said.

Ernie Els and Paul Casey managed only 74s to drop to four under, but in contrast to that 49-year-old Bernhard Langer, 135th after an opening 76, followed up his second round 66 with a 68 and is up to 11th.

At six under he still has a chance, but he would have had a better one if he had not bogeyed the 16th and 18th.

“I hate to finish bad,” he said. “You come off and you are mad at yourself. We work so hard for three hours and then you give it away in 30 minutes.”

What made it worse was that Langer considers Eichenried’s 319-yard 16th and long 18th the two easiest holes. But first he misjudged the wind and spun a pitch into the lake, then he hooked a drive into more water.

And that after covering the first 15 holes in six under.