Should Colin Montgomerie maintain his lead to win the Scandinavian Masters he will claim his fourth European Tour victory of the season. That would be a personal best for the Scot and in his current form he could well go on to threaten the tour record of 6 victories in a season held jointly by Seve Ballesteros in 1986 and Nick Faldo in 1992. Monty’s third round 65 bettered his first two rounds by two and gave him a six shot cushion going into the final day, though after his round Monty joked he wished he had missed his birdie putt on the last, recalling the six shot lead from which Darren Clarke was caught and overtaken last weekend in Ireland.
Monty’s closest challenger is first round leader Paul Broadhurst, who will be hoping he can apply enough early pressure to impose himself on Montgomerie and give himself a chance of his first tour win since the 1995 Peugeot Open de Espana. Broadhurst’s best finish this season is 9th spot in the Algarve Portuguese Open, but after a third round 68 he is in a great position to improve on this, whilst admitting his chances of catching Monty are slim.
Over 28,000 spectators were present on day three and the majority it seemed were following one man, local hero Jesper Parnevik. Jesper started the day with much promise covering the front nine in four under par, but came unstuck on the inward half posting a one over par back nine of 38, three worse than his previous score for that nine over the first two rounds. Parnevik will be partnered by England’s David Carter in the penultimate group whose three rounds of 70, 68, 68 put him level with the Swede on 10 under par.
Behind Monty, the best round of the day belonged to South Africa’s Andrew McLardy who posted a 66 to sit on nine under par with a group including the two Swedes Per Ulrik Johansson and Per Nyman, ensuring much home interest in the final few groupings. Course record holder Geoff Ogilvy, and Spain’s Francisco Cea complete the group on nine under.
