Cannes Open
Royal Mougins
Cannes, France
16th - 19th April 1998

Par 71 Prize Money £300,000

Third Round Report

Third Round Scores
Second Round Report
Second Round Scores
First Round Report
First Round Scores

Thomas Levet goes four-shots clear

Cannes, 18th April 1998 - Frenchman Thomas Levet, playing his first European Tour event of the year, stormed into a four-stroke lead after shooting a six-under-par 65 in the third round of the Cannes Open in dry but windy weather.

Happy-go-lucky Levet only got into the tournament through a special exemption from the French Federation, yet if he hangs on to his lead in tomorrow's final round he will be eligible for every tournament on the European Tour until the year 2000.

It is a real incentive for Levet, who moved to eight under par overall with his three-round aggregate of 205 with his nearest challengers - Australian Peter Lonard, Irishman Eamonn Darcy, Bristol's Andrew Sherborne and Pierre Fulke of Sweden, all on 209.

Yet while Levet, with seven birdies and only one bogey on his card, had few problems, Irishmen Christy O'Connor and David Higgins both suffered misfortunes after threatening to take the lead early in the round.

Higgins was level at six under with Levet after playing the eighth hole but he bogeyed the ninth and then was unlucky at the 11th where he had a four-over-par eight after his second shot struck a rock and went out of bounds.

A double bogey followed at the 14th and he dropped another shot at the 15th before two birdies gave him a round of 75 and brought him back to level par, eight shots off the pace.

O'Connor, who led the field by one shot overnight, had his ball stolen at the short fifth where the wind took his shot 40 yards to the right and on to a path.

Though he was allowed a free drop he double bogeyed the hole but was still only one shot off the lead after seven holes.

But at the ninth he had another double bogey after his ball had landed on a rock and three putts at the 13th and 18th gave him a 75 and left him six shots behind the leader.

Later 49-year-old O'Connor admitted: "The wind killed me stone dead and knocked the stuffing out of me."

So Darcy, with a five-birdie 66 early in the day, proved the best of the Irish contingent.

Of the British players, Sherborne also made a third-round charge with a 68 which included six birdies but three bogeys.

As for Levet, he predicts he will not be too nervous tomorrow and said: "I have won seven tournaments in France so I know how to win.

"I am in a very good position and it would be nice to be exempt on the European Tour for the next two years. We shall have to see what happens."