| Wentworth,
Surrey, 24th May 1998 -
Colin Montgomerie and Seve Ballesteros took the limelight when they both scored
seven-under-par 65s in the third round of the Volvo PGA Championship.
Montgomerie put himself into a one-stroke lead with 205 ahead of fellow-Scot
Dean Robertson and Swede Mats Hallberg. Ballesteros, struggling with a pulled
neck muscle, shares seventh place. With
world number one Ernie Els hovering only two strokes off the lead, the final round
promises to be enthralling Montgomerie
stood on the first green when Ballesteros came in and by the time the Scot came
off the final green he had compiled an eagle and six birdies with a surprise late
dropped shot denying him a bigger lead.
Els missed a third successive
birdie coming home when a six-foot putt failed to drop, after double-bogeying
the 15th and had to settle for a third consecutive 69 for 207 and a share of third
place overnight with another Scot, Gary Orr, and England's David Gilford.
Ballesteros is a further stroke back on 208 in a group which includes the
leader for the first two rounds, Michael Jonzon of Sweden who hit out of bounds
at the 17th to slide down the field.
The swashbuckling Spaniard produced
a vintage round, often among the Wentworth trees, including an eagle and seven
birdies, taking only 22 putts, as he at last found form this year, repeating his
score in Paris last autumn when he briefly led the Lancome Trophy. Montgomerie
has never won at Wentworth but has lost a playoff in this event to Ballesteros
and in the final of the World Matchplay to Els.
Els has twice been runner-up
in the PGA but won three World Matchplay titles. Ballesteros has seven victories
to his credit at Wentworth, including a 1991 PGA Chamoionship win when he beat
Montgomerie in a playoff with the shot of the year at the first sudden-death hole.
Montgomerie is in determined mood, though, anxious to improve his 41st current
European ranking place to help him towards his sixth consecutive order of merit
success.
He had picked up four shots in the last three holes to escape
the cut on Saturday night and moved into contention with three birdies in five
holes from the third.
When he chipped in to pick up a shot on the short
10th and then eagled with a stunning approach to five feet on the 12th and ran
in a 25 foot birdie putt on the 13th, Montgomerie established a two-stroke lead,
reduced to one by virtue of his three-putt from a long way off on the 16th green.
"The perfect round's never been played and I'll never play it,"
conceded Montgomerie, "although I got an unlucky bounce at the 15th to go
that far past the flag.
"I think 15-under-par will be the winning
total so that means I need a 68 to finish. It's a tournament I haven't won and
it's the one to win, the sixth largest one I play in all year.
Els agreed
with Montgomerie's forecast of the winning target.
"It was another
up and down day," said the South African. "I made some good birdie putts
but I hit it into the ditch on the 15th and that was a bit of a jolt. I think
I'll need a 66 to win now."
| |
| | 
Third Round Scores Second Round Past Champions Wentworth Scorecard Last
Year's Event |
