Golf:Thomas Bjorn turned on the style to grab the 54-hole lead at the Qatar Masters in Doha, where Darren Clarke is best of the Irish but is well off the the Dane's pace.
Former Ryder Cup star Bjorn, who last October was one of Colin Montgomerie’s vice-captains at Celtic Manor, birdied four of the last five holes to charge from one behind Austrian Markus Brier to one in front.
Bjorn, 40 in less than a fortnight, added a bogey-free 66 to his second-round 65 and will resume the chase for the €303,113 first prize on 11 under par 205.
Brier, ranked only 478th in the world, was left to rue bogey sixes on both the ninth and 18th as he handed in a 69.
First his approach flew over the green, then he was twice in the dense rough right of the final fairway and had to lay up short of the water with his third shot.
Defending champion Robert Karlsson remains a threat three strokes behind Bjorn in third spot, outdoing even the leader with five birdies in his last seven holes for a 69.
As for German Martin Kaymer, who needs a top-two finish to go to world number one, a 68 lifted him only from 57th to 28th and so Lee Westwood, who crashed after missing the cut, looks set to remain the sport’s leading man for at least one more week.
Bjorn, who had his first victory for four years in Portugal last season, said: “I didn’t drive the ball particularly well, but I fought well and when I hit the fairways I took my chances.
“Yesterday I played fantastically and today was not as good, but there was a lot of heart and soul and that’s what you need sometimes.”
The chairman of the European Tour’s tournament committee started his run with a curling 18-footer at the 14th and finished with three more birdies, pitching over the lake to within three feet of the flag on the last.
Brier, who did not have a single top-20 finish on the tour last year and had to go back to the qualifying school in November, is playing on a sponsor’s invitation and could yet reignite his career in dramatic fashion.
He had birdied the fourth and sixth before his slip at the ninth and picked up more strokes on the 11th, 12th and 16th thanks to a 25-foot putt.
South African Thomas Aiken is in fourth place on seven under, four behind, and one further back come 2009 winner Alvaro Quiros and England’s Richard Finch.
Sergio Garcia’s 69 put him alongside Kaymer on one under, but Ian Poulter dropped back to one over with a 74 and Americans John Daly and Steve Stricker are down on two over and four over respectively.
Perhaps the biggest surprises, though, were that Peter Hanson and Miguel Angel Jimenez, joint runners-up to Bahrain last Sunday, shot 76 and 79 and are bringing up the rear of the field.
Clarke carded a second successive 69 and although he has made up ground after a first day 78, he is still well off the pace on level par.
Paul McGinley and Michael Hoey will go into the final day on two over after both carded 71s.
Collated third round scores and totals in the European Tour Qatar Masters at Doha Golf Club, Qatar
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in
boldpar 72):
205Thomas Bjorn (Den) 74 65 66
206Markus Brier (Aut) 71 66 69
208Robert Karlsson (Swe) 70 69 69
209Thomas Aiken (Rsa) 71 69 69
210Richard Finch 70 69 71, Alvaro Quiros (Spa) 75 69 66
211Paul Lawrie 74 66 71, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 73 69 69, Steven O'Hara 73 69 69, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 77 68 66
212David Howell 75 69 68, Darren Fichardt (Rsa) 70 68 74, Mark Foster 73 71 68, Gregory Havret (Fra) 73 73 66
213Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 77 66 70, Soren Hansen (Den) 74 71 68, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 74 68 71, David Lynn 73 69 71
214Oliver Wilson 74 69 71, Kenneth Ferrie 75 69 70, Graeme Storm 75 70 69, Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 73 74 67, Anthony Wall 75 70 69, David Drysdale 71 71 72, Robert Rock 73 68 73, Stephen Gallacher 72 73 69, Keith Horne (Rsa) 78 69 67
215Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 75 72 68, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 74 70 71, Steve Webster 75 72 68, Retief Goosen (Rsa) 69 71 75, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 73 69, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 77 70 68, Martin Kaymer (Ger) 77 70 68, Bradley Dredge 72 71 72
216Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind) 73 71 72, Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 77 69 70, Alvaro Velasco (Spa) 77 68 71, Darren Clarke 78 69 69, Seve Benson 71 72 73, Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 74 69 73, Oscar Floren (Swe) 79 67 70, Stephen Dodd 77 70 69, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 75 71 70, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 73 71 72, Barry Lane 74 73 69
217Robert Jan Derksen (Ned) 74 72 71, John Parry 76 70 71, Peter Whiteford 75 70 72, David Horsey 74 71 72, Mark Brown (Nzl) 75 69 73, Johan Edfors (Swe) 80 67 70, Paul Broadhurst 78 69 70, Ian Poulter 72 71 74
218John Daly (USA) 77 68 73, Martin Wiegele (Aut) 76 70 72, James Kingston (Rsa) 72 74 72, Niclas Fasth (Swe) 70 74 74, Paul McGinley 77 70 71, Michael Hoey 74 73 71
219Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa) 75 72 72, Richie Ramsay 75 70 74, Gary Boyd 73 72 74, Paul Waring 79 68 72, Andrew Coltart 74 72 73, Simon Dyson 72 72 75
220Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 71 76, Steve Stricker (USA) 76 71 73, Mark F Haastrup (Den) 77 70 73, Oliver Fisher 71 72 77
221Marcel Siem (Ger) 75 72 74, Jamie Donaldson 74 73 74, Tano Goya (Arg) 73 72 76
222Romain Wattel (Fra) 77 68 77
223Peter Hanson (Swe) 72 75 76
224Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa) 73 72 79
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