Rocca, McNulty drive ahead

THE damage was not especially severe, but Nick Faldo could have used a consultation last night with coach David Leadbetter - had he known where to find him. Instead, he will have to improvise while attempting to close a three-stroke gap on joint leaders Costantino Rocca and Mark McNulty after the third round of the £1 million Volvo PGA Championship here on a sodden West Course.

Leadbetter's whereabouts became all the more intriguing when it emerged that Paul Lawrie had an extremely rewarding lesson with him at Wentworth last Friday. "I had a putting problem which he sorted out in 15 minutes," said the Scot, after he moved into third place on his own.

All of which prompted the notion that Faldo would also seek him out, after a disappointing 72 yesterday. Not so. "I wouldn't even know where to find him," admitted the Englishman. It seems that shortly after Lawrie's lesson, Leadbetter headed for Tokyo en route to his home in Florida. Which is the way of things on the high-powered tournament scene.

Eamonn Darcy, on the other hand, relied on a well-tried if famously unorthodox method to remain at the head of the Irish challenge. In fact it was an admirably courageous effort by the 43-year-old who faced the prospect of a totally ruinous round when he carded bogey, double-bogey at the sixth and seventh holes.

While Darcy remained in a share of ninth place, where he had been overnight, Paul McGinley made the most significant progress of the seven Irish qualifiers. With a birdie, birdie finish, he shot a 69 to leap from 29th to 13th position. All of the other Irishmen lost ground: Padraig Harrington and David Feherty did least damage, slipping only three places.

Rocca, who has one of the best swings in the European game, was hugely embarrassed by a dreadful drive off the first, where an attempted fade became a pull-hook into trees, leading to a double-bogey six. From there, however, he covered the remaining 17 holes in five under par. "I'm playing very good," he said, with a familiar, broad grin.

The Italian birdied all of the par fives, which he reached in two. McNulty also birdied them, though he had to pitch and putt for his fours at the 17th (20-foot putt) and, 18th (18-foot putt).

As a contrast in styles, it highlighted the manner in which a relatively short striker, such as the" Zimbabwean, could still extract a rich reward from a long, demanding course. McNulty provided the key to his success in one simple statement: "I was greatly indebted to the putter."

Courtesy of Leadbetter, Lawrie also pulled splendidly. "He noticed instantly that I was standing shut to the ball," said the player who succeeded Philip Walton as winner of the Catalan Open last February, when rain caused it to be reduced to two rounds. In contrast to the two leaders, however, he managed to card a bogey-free round of 68.

Though clearly aware of the elite company on the leaderboard, Lawrie was not lacking in confidence. "I feel very sharp - there isn't a weakness in my game," he said. And as if determined that we shouldn't doubt his intentions, he added: "I respect the top players but I'm not scared of anybody. Tomorrow is just another day."

Darcy clearly has the experience to think that way, having been runner-up in this event in 1975 and 1976 and only one stroke out of the play-off in which Seve Ballesteros beat Colin Montgomerie for the title in 1991. "My target tomorrow will be to shoot a 66 and give them something to aim at," he said.

His bogey at the 356-yard sixth was the product of a bunkered, two-iron tee-shot. At the next, however, he paid a more severe penalty for a drive down the right which gave whim the worst possible angle to the most difficult green on the course. Then, having missed the target with a seven-iron, he went on to three-putt from the bottom of the slope, about 60 feet below the pin.

But he remained composed in the knowledge that his game was generally in good shape. Putts of 10 and 12 feet delivered birdies at the eighth and 11th, and he went on to birdie the long 17th where he pitched to eight feet. At the last, a delightfully struck three-wood cut-shot of 220 yards into the wind finished on the front of the green, from where he two-putted for a four.

By his own admission, Harrington's concentration was poor as he carded a workmanlike 72. "I had a lot of negative thoughts today, which I hope to sort out before the final round," he said. One under par for the round after 14 holes, he dropped a stroke at the next where he misjudged an eight-iron shot out of rough. And he also bogeyed the 16th, which he three-putted from 35 feet, charging his first effort 10 feet past.

But he finished well, hitting a low, one-iron second shot of 213 yards to within 20 feet of the last flag, for a closing birdie.

Feherty also shot level par, complaining bitterly that he couldn't make a putt of any consequence.

After his spectacular exploits of Saturday, when he carded three eagles in a round of 67, Walton slipped to an uninspiring 73, largely because of indifferent putting. The round contained only two birdies, at the 11th, where he holed a four-footer and at the 18th, which he reached with a four-wood of 235 yards.

Faldo was forced into a rather different strategy at the hole, having driven into a fairway trap. A seven-iron recovery, however, followed by a 67-yard sandwedge to 12 feet yielded the desired, birdie result.

As he complained afterwards about the slowness of the greens, the thought occurred that Bernhard Langer would have been happy with such problems instead, the German had departed the scene, having ended a European record sequence of 68 cuts, stretching back five years.