| Munich,
Germany, 29th August 1998 -
The formidable
Bernhard Langer stepped in to delight his home Bavarian gallery on Saturday
after Danish halfway leader Thomas Bjørn faltered in the third round of the
BMW International Open. Langer
has won 10 times in Germany but never in this area where he grew up. Yet he will
begin Sunday's final round level on top with England's Russell Claydon, who
has never won on tour in nine years. The
German shot a second successive five-under-par 67 on the Nord-Eichenried course
and Claydon a 64 as they moved to 14-under-par 202, a shot clear of Bjørn and
Langer's compatriot Thomas Gögele. Three
successive bogeys in the middle of his back nine cost Bjørn the lead and the Dane
had to settle for a 72. Gögele shot 67. Northern
Ireland's Darren Clarke shares fifth place with Englishmen Andrew Beal and
Jamie Spence, only three shots behind the leaders. He needs only take second
spot to overtake England's Lee Westwood on top of the Volvo Ranking, which
is the European Tour's Order of Merit. Langer,
who won four times last year but has yet to taste victory in 1998, missed only
four fairways. But the two-times U.S. Masters champion admitted costing himself
a chance of a runaway lead when he could only make one birdie on the back nine
after going out four-under. "I
misread so many lines on the greens coming home," conceded Langer after missing
a four-footer on the final hole to lead outright. "When you hit 16 greens
you should do better. "But
I'm happy to be up there. There's no special incentive to win this just because
I don't have this title, because I have incentive enough already, wanting to win
in front of my family and a wonderful gallery." Claydon's
eight-under-par 64 matched Bjørn's opening score. His nine birdies were interrupted
by a bogey on the 15th, but the burly Englishman has set up a chance of ending
a run of five European Tour second places. Bjørn
was way off the mark this time and strode straight to the practice range to smarten
up his driving after confessing to only hitting five fairways. The
Danish Ryder Cup player produced a magical pitch from under a tree, after nearly
hitting out of bounds on the last to cheer himself with a closing birdie. "That
was important because I was feeling down," he said. "I had a bad run
with two three-putts which got me shaky and cost me the lead, but really it was
my driving which was the most costly and I'm going to get that right for the final
round. "I've
had my bad round and the pressure's on Bernhard now," he said. Five-times
European number one Colin Montgomerie missed the cut on Friday but will still
play the final round. Montgomerie,
needing to sharpen up his tournament play after missing successive cuts for the
first time in seven years, offered to act as fellow Briton David Tapping's marker
in the first match of the 67 qualifiers and his offer was taken up. "I
obviously need the practice," said the Scot, who will go on to play in the
European Masters next week in Switzerland, when qualifying for Europe's 1999 Ryder
Cup team begins. | 
