Miguel Angel Jiménez made the first serious step forward on moving day in the Senior Open Championship Presented by Rolex at Carnoustie.
Starting the third round in tied 11thplace, three shots behind joint leaders Joe Durant and Kohki Idoki, the Spaniard displayed the familiar verve which earned him 21 victories on the European Tour by moving seamlessly to the top of the leaderboard on an overcast day on the east coast of Scotland.
Jiménez emerged from the starting blocks with birdies at the second, fourth and sixth to launch an impressive bid for his first Senior Major Championship.
It was all change at the top as Durant and Idoki both dropped a shot, leaving Jiménez lording it over the field at seven under par. As the action warmed up, he was joined, then passed, by Swede Magnus Atlevi, who holed his second shot from the middle of the third fairway for an eagle two, and followed that up with a birdie at the next to move to eight under par.
Atlevi, aiming to be the third Swedish winner on Scottish soil in three weeks following the successes of Alex Noren and Henrik Stenson, promptly three putted the fifth to create a log jam on seven under with Jiménez, Tom Byrum of the USA and 1998 Masters Tournament and Open Champion, Mark O’Meara, who picked up shots at the first and fifth.
