Bjorn triple-bogey gives hope to Irish pair

Thomas Bjorn threw the BMW PGA Championship wide open on Sunday with a triple-bogey seven on the sixth hole of the final round at Wentworth.

Thomas Bjorn threw the BMW PGA Championship wide open today with a triple-bogey seven on the sixth hole of the final round at Wentworth.

Bjorn began the day with a five-shot lead over two-time winner Luke Donald and although Irish golfer Shane Lowry reduced the gap with an eagle on the fourth and birdie on the fifth, Bjorn was still four clear when he birdied the fourth.

However, the 43-year-old Dane then failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker on the fifth and found even worse trouble in sand on the next.

Bjorn failed to escape from a fairway bunker at the first attempt and only a nifty bit of footwork prevented the ball rebounding back and hitting his left foot, which would have meant a one-shot penalty.

After splashing out of the sand with his third shot, Bjorn found a greenside bunker with his approach and needed three more shots to finish the 418-yard par four.

That left the former Wentworth resident tied for the lead with Lowry on 12-under-par, with fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy just two behind after one eagle, one birdie and one bogey in his first seven holes.

Scotland's Stephen Gallacher was producing the best golf of the day with six birdies in 14 holes - four of them in succession from the 11th - taking the Dubai Desert Classic winner to nine under.