Colin
Montgomerie took his foot off the pedal but still maintained his three-shot lead
with a four-under-par 68 in the third round of the British Masters at Woburn on
Saturday.
The
Scot, a consistently good front-runner, will be fully expected to complete his
sixth victory of the year in Sunday's final round to equal the modern European
Tour record shared by Seve Ballesteros and Nick Faldo.
"Any
time I can emulate those two I'll be very proud of myself," the world number three
said.
As Montgomerie
drove forward, main overnight challenger Lee Westwood went into reverse. The Scot
reached a 17-under-par total of 199 while his English rival for the number one
spot in Europe, three behind overnight, is now seven shots adrift after a level-par
72 and tied for fifth place on 206.
American Bob May eagled the final hole with a 50-foot putt to cut Montgomerie's
lead to three shots and take second place with a 66 for 202, 14 under par.
Eduardo Romero of Argentina completed an amazing comeback to grab third place
on 204 with a 66 after dropping shots on the first three holes. Christopher Hanell
of Sweden was fourth, a further shot back, also after a 66.
Montgomerie, who took the lead with his second-round 64 on Friday, began on Saturday
with a birdie at the first on a 10-foot putt. But, in a swirling wind, birdies
were hard to come by for the rest of the front nine and it was not until the 10th
hole that he picked up another stroke.
He also birdied the 12th, where he chipped in, and the par-five 18th.
"The wind was gusting today
and it was not easy to judge the distance on the second shots. I got it wrong
a few times but I was confident enough to get it up and down when I needed to,"
he said.
"Putting
wasn't easy either. But I'm in a strong position and I thrive on competition.
I said 20 under would win so if I shoot 69 and someone else reaches 21 under I'll
be the first to congratulate them."
May, a Californian who lives in Las Vegas, birdied four of the first 13 holes
without dropping a shot but saved his best for the last, hitting a four-wood second
to 50 feet.
"I
was only hoping to get the putt close but it went in," he said.
He described the man ahead of him as "all right". "He is a very nice man, a gentleman
on the golf course," May said.
"He
is one of the best players in the world and I'll have to get close to the course
record (63) to win it."
In his favour, he said he outscored Montgomerie the last time they played together.
Romero was slightly
shell-shocked after beginning with three bogeys but after three successive pars
he put together a withering burst of nine birdies in the last 12 holes.
"I don't know what was going
on at the start because I was fine on the practice range. I three-putted the second
and was bunkered and missed from six feet at the third.
"But
I made a very good putt for par at the sixth and that woke me up. I played fantastic
the rest of the round," he said.
His streak included one 15-foot putt, two from 10 feet and a cluster of good approach
shots.
Westwood's
problems began on the third hole. The Englishman drove into a bush and took a
double bogey six from which he never fully recovered, though birdies at the last
two holes helped.
"We
saw exactly where it went in the bush and never found it. I had nothing go my
way all day," he said.
He was level with former winner Ian Woosnam and Raymond Russell of Britain and
Mathias Gronberg of Sweden.
