| Versailles,
France, 19th September 1998 -
Miguel Angel Jimenez led after the third round of the Lancome Trophy on Saturday
but defending champion Mark O'Meara and Briton Colin Montgomerie are lurking just
two shots behind after an extraordinary final hole. Montgomerie
looked as though he would drop at least one shot on the 18th after hitting his
ball into the grandstand where a young boy ran off with it. But,
after being allowed to drop a new ball, he finally holed a curling 50-footer to
save par. His
playing-partner O'Meara, winner of two majors this year, then missed a two-footer
to bogey. That put both in a share of second place with New Zealand's Greg Turner.
Jimenez' five-under-par
67 earned him the lead on nine-under-par 204. Turner carded 68, Montgomerie and
O'Meara shot 69s, all for 206. They
are two further strokes ahead of two Americans on a visit from the U.S. Tour,
Fred Couples and David Duval, Australian Peter O'Malley and English rookie Anthony
Wall. Couples
led after a six-birdie early run but faded, not as badly as the overnight leader
Ian Woosnam of Wales, however. The
Briton double-bogeyed the first and went on to shoot a 77 to slump to 212, going
from two shots ahead of the field to eight behind the lead. Jimenez
took over from him by virtue of four successive early birdies and then a late
eagle to compensate for dropped shots around the turn. But he denied himself a
bigger lead by bogeying the last. The
34-year-old Spaniard is keen to get into his first Ryder Cup team as a player
now that his duties as vice-captain under Severiano Ballesteros are over, but
he will not let his dream spoil his victory chances. "I've
been working very hard this year after needing to spend a lot of time away from
the game," said the Spanish leader. "I've given a lot to golf recently
and golf's finally giving something back to me, as today proves. "But
I won't let the Ryder Cup spoil my chance of winning by thinking about it and
I'll just want to stay calm and concentrate, keep my confidence, for the final
round." Montgomerie
was lucky to survive a lost-ball incident after hitting the 18th grandstand when
a lady spectator took his ball from the seats and gave it to a boy who ran off
with it. A referee
spotted the point where the ball went in, though, and allowed Montgomerie to place
a new ball in a dropping zone. His clumsy pitch took his ball well past the hole.
Now the Scot
is in a good position to overhaul fellow-Briton Lee Westwood on top of Europe's
rankings after this event. Westwood is only £34,000 ahead of Montgomerie
and trails him by nine shots after a 73. | 
