Suneson & Bjorn tied for lead

Spain's Carl Suneson put years of ill health behind him with an exhilarating finish to share the lead with Denmark's Thomas Bjorn at the windswept BMW International Open on Saturday.

The pair ended the third round on a 15-under-par total of 201, with Suneson birdieing three of the last four holes to card a five-under 67.

Bjorn, three ahead at one stage, putted well down the closing stretch for a 69.

England's Daren Lee was one stroke back, with Bernhard Langer three off the pace. Both shot 66.

Suneson topped the Challenge Tour rankings last year to regain his European Tour card after six years of uneven form, mainly caused by thyroid problems and then diabetes.

He is currently 114th on the money list.

The secondary tour helped him recover his fitness and rediscover his swing and now he plans to put last year's successes to good advantage.

"I haven't been leading going into a last round on the full tour before," said the one-time English amateur international, whose father is Swedish and mother English.

"But I won three times on the Challenge Tour last year and I'm going to draw on my experience and hope that's good enough to win tomorrow."

Suneson, born in the Canary Islands and who became a naturalised Spaniard four years ago, said he had coped with the high winds by drawing on his work with a sports psychologist to help him reduce his stress levels when gripping the club.

Bjorn relied on a more consistent swing, remodelled with his coach over the last two months.

The Dane, fifth in Europe's order of merit and who was runner-up in the British Open and third in the US PGA Championship, also needed to finish well to stay in touch and only dropped one shot, at the 14th.

"The conditions were tough and the swing stood up well but I ran out of steam on the 14th," said Bjorn, who had begun one stroke ahead of the field and increased that to three by the 13th.

"I holed three good putts on the last three holes, two to save par and the birdie putt on the last."

Bjorn knows his two chief challengers, who are both trying to retain their cards, well.

"I had to make it from the Challenge Tour like Carl and I know he's a great player because you don't win the Challenge Tour without playing good golf.

"Daren's a good player who needs to grind it out and keep his card. They know a good result tomorrow can change their lives, and good luck to them.

"But that won't deflect me from trying to beat them."

None of the leaders should come under pressure from the tournament's two surviving world-ranked players, Ernie Els and Greg Norman.

World number two Els is nine shots off the lead and will struggle to capture the second place he needs to go top of Europe's money list. Norman is 10 shots behind after an error-strewn 74.

Bjorn can take over Europe's number four spot from Colin Montgomerie with a top-two finish after the Scot missed the cut.

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page