A furious outburst against the European Tour by Severiano Ballesteros after the five-times major champion was disqualified in the third round, overshadowed the Italian Open today.
Ricardo Gonzalez leads the tournament but Ballesteros was fined Stg£500 and docked a shot when he received a second time warning on the 16th tee from tour chief referee John Paramor
The Spaniard refused to add the penalty to his card on the 16th and change his score from a three-over-par 75 to 76, and was subsequently disqualified.
That led to Ballesteros calling a press conference in which he made several accusations against European Tour executive director Ken Schofield, opening old wounds from when he, Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo and Bernhard Langer had called for the tour's finances to be investigated in 2000.
While the tour refused to comment on the outburst, they gave a vote of confidence for Paramor's actions. The rumpus stole third round leader Gonzalez' thunder.
The Argentine, looking for a second Tour success to go with his 2001 European Masters title, moved a stroke ahead of the field with a 66 for an aggregate 13-under-par 203.
Australian Peter O'Malley, the leader for two rounds, slipped into a share of second place with two Swedes, 2002 Ryder Cup man Pierre Fulke and Pehr Magnebrant and Dutchman Rolf Muntz.
Philip Walton and Gary Murphy lead the Irish challenge, albeit some way off the pace, on four under. Both players carded third round 70's while Wexford's Damien McGrane finds himself three shots further back on one-under after a disappointing 74.
Gonzalez had to recover from an early double-bogey, uncharacteristically changing his game plan to get into contention and then force his way to the top, with eight birdies in 13 holes.
"I'm very pleased to recover after my double-bogey on the third," said Gonzalez. "I tried to cut a three-wood around trees, made a mess of it and then three-putted.
"After that I made a conscious change in my game, not to use my driver so much."
Despite changing his game in the third round, the 33-year-old from Rosario will not be holding back in tomorrow's final round.
"I've won before so I know what it takes and will try to use that experience in the final round.
"But I will try to make birdies, it is the only way I know to play. I will not change the way I play even if I am ahead or maybe a couple of shots behind. I cannot play defensively."
Tournament favourite Colin Montgomerie's chance of winning a maiden Italian Open title suffered a setback as he slipped five strokes off the lead.
After starting the day only three strokes off the pace, he could only card a 71, his round marred by a double-bogey on the 12th when he was caught out by a wind-change that saw him hit through the green into trouble.
The Scot has not given up hope of winning, however: "I missed five putts inside 10 feet over the opening holes and a load more coming in and I played as well as my 62 in the pro-am. There's another 62 still in there."