Dredge takes narrow lead into last day

Welshman Bradley Dredge birdied the last two holes to take an unexpected one-shot lead after the Volvo Masters third round on Saturday as early pacesetters Colin Montgomerie and Angel Cabrera both faded.

Cabrera, four strokes clear overnight following scores of 63 and 72, crashed to a 76 as gusting winds battered Valderrama while Montgomerie, briefly co-leader at four under, slipped backwards with a one-over-par 72.

The 29-year-old Dredge, who has produced nine top-10 finishes in Europe this season, fired a level-par 71 to finish at three-under 210, with Montgomerie and Cabrera a further shot back in a tie for second.

England's Justin Rose, playing in his first Volvo Masters, was alone in fourth at even par after carding 73.

With most of the elite field of 65 struggling to cope in the swirling winds, the lead trio were the only players to complete 54 holes in under par.

"My game is in good shape but, with the strong winds today, it made it very, very difficult," said Dredge, who is yet to win on the European Tour.

"I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. I've had a lot of top-10s this year but I haven't really been in contention as many times as I would have liked.

"I can't control what Cabrera does or (Sergio) Garcia does, I'm just going to try and finish as high up as I can -- it's as simple as that."

Montgomerie, whose last victory came at the Scandinavian Masters 15 months ago, was delighted to be in contention for his first title in more than a year.

"Every shot is a challenge here and each hole is a potential disaster," said the 39-year-old Scot. "You can't relax and it's tiring.

"I was four behind at the start of the day and, as long as I didn't lose any more ground -- and I didn't -- that was fine.

"I'm right in the position I want to be, in contention on Saturday night," added Montgomerie, Volvo Masters champion in 1993.

Earlier, Ireland's Padraig Harrington dropped two shots in the last three holes to make a further dent in his order of merit title hopes.

The defending champion, who needs to finish no worse than 27th on Sunday to have a chance of overhauling Retief Goosen, carded a three-over-par 74 in the swirling winds.

That left the Irishman in a share of 43rd place at 11-over 224, one ahead of reigning European number one Goosen, who battled to a seven-over-par 78.

"Although conditions are tough out there, I could have done a little better," said Harrington.

"But I suppose you are going to make a few errors on a day like today. I think I needed a bit better but I can't do much about that now.

"It's a really tough course today and you need to get on top of it. If you're going well, I think you can handle the wind, but you certainly need a good start to keep yourself going."

Goosen was frustrated with his own game but knows he still has a second successive order of merit crown within his grasp.

"I'm playing badly and that's unfortunate to play so bad in the last event of the year," said the South African. "But it all depends on how well Padraig plays tomorrow.

"If he shoots a good round and I shoot a bad one, then he'll win it. But if I can play a good round, then I suppose I could win it.

"I wouldn't have expected to play this badly and still be in this position."

Pre-tournament favourite Garcia was another to slide down the leaderboard, returning a 75 to slip into a tie for fifth at one over with veteran German Bernhard Langer (72) and Swede Fredrik Jacobson (74).

The world number six was joint-second overnight but ran up an ugly quadruple-bogey nine at the 564-yard fourth after receiving a penalty drop when his ball moved under cork trees and then finding water with his fifth shot.

Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke holed out in one with a five-iron from 211 yards at the par-three 15th but carded a four-over-par 75 for a share of 14th place after collecting double-bogeys on the last two holes.

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