Following an attritional battle with par on day 3 of the Open de France, the two players who will fight it out from the front in the final round are Argentina's Rafa Echinique and Germany's Martin Kaymer. Echinique leads the field at 11-under, with Kaymer one stroke behind.
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Echinique tees off Day 3 of the Open de France.[China.org.cn]
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Continuing the theme from the first two days, all the players have struggled to put together two consecutive good rounds. Echinique, so fluent yesterday with his tee-shots and his putting, battled with both throughout the course of the third round. It was a tribute to his determination that despite the fact that he did not play nearly so well as on Friday, he actually made one less bogey.
Kaymer must be heartily grateful for his first-round score of 62. Lying at ten-under par, nine of these strokes came from that first-day effort.
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Martin Kaymer narrowly misses for birdie on 9. [China.org.cn]
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"The first day was awesome then I struggled a little bit yesterday but I was solid today and made a lot of chances,"said the 24 year old. "I am really pleased with a 69. I feel really good here, I play solid and if I can make a few more putts tomorrow then I will have a great chance.
"I was surprised to see a few Germans out there supporting me today and also, and I don't know why this is, but there are quite a lot of the French people supporting me - it certainly feels that they like me and I hope that continues. Maybe it's because I wear Lacoste!
"I can remember being in Abu Dhabi leading going into the final round and I was really nervous for the first nine holes because I had never been in that situation before. I have been there a few times now and hopefully I can use that experience."
The travails of the leaders have allowed one or two familiar faces to fight their way into contention from a long way back. Foremost among these was Colin Montgomerie. Monty is only here for the weekend thanks to a late shift that moved the cut from par to one-over, a factor that lifted survivor numbers from the low sixties to seventy-eight competitors.
The veteran Scot took full advantage of the stroke of good luck. He started the day in the third group when most of his adversaries were still reclining comfortably in their beds; on the final day he will tee-off in group 34 just before noon, a small hop of more than fifty places on the scoreboard and sixty on the starting list. He will partner Alvaro Quiros; the Spaniard managed the same feat as Monty.
Montgomerie owed his advancement to a round of 65 – his best of the season to date, while two thirds of the field were unable to break par. The bogey-free round, a rarity on the Golf National course, included an eagle on the par-4 6th when he holed his approach shot.
It is never difficult to distinguish between a ray of sunshine and a Scotsman with a grievance, as the great English humorist P.G. Wodehouse said, and over the years Monty has been unstinting in his efforts to give truth to the adage. It would have been a fine thing to capture on camera a rare smile on his face as he headed for the scorer's tent.
