‘Beware the injured golfer’ is a well used phrase but Scott Strange gave further credence to its authenticity yesterday when he overcame a worrying dizzy spell on the course to maintain his lead in The Celtic Manor Wales Open.
The 30 year old Australian carded a third round 69 for a 15 under par total of 198 and a three shot advantage over rookie Alvaro Velasco of Spain while three players – Frenchman Raphaël Jacquelin, Swede Robert Karlsson and Jeev Milkha Singh of India – shared third place a further shot behind.
But those mere statistics do little to tell of the drama which befell the man from Perth during the closing stages of his third round on The Twenty Ten Course, the venue for The 2010 Ryder Cup.
After making par on the 14th, Strange admitted to his caddie he felt decidedly odd on the walk up the hill to the 15th tee.
“When I bent down to put the tee in the ground I almost toppled over forwards, it was a really weird feeling,” he said. “I have no idea why I felt dizzy, but I hit a terrible tee shot and was lucky to get away with a bogey five.
“On the whole hole I was feeling dizzy, I don’t know what it was. When I finished the hole I got a banana and some water into me and then I managed to locate a chocolate bar at the back of the 16th tee and I had that which made me feel a little better.
“I’ve never felt like that on a golf course before, not knowing whether you want to faint or to throw up. But the good thing is that I got through it and I still have a lead to take into tomorrow and I’m very happy where I am sitting right now. I don’t think I need to see a doctor but I’ll probably pop into the Tour physios before I head back to the hotel and see what they think.”
Leading the chasing pack is another man looking for his first European Tour victory, Spain’s Alvaro Velasco, who kept his hopes alive of that very eventuality with a fine third round 68 for a 12 under par total of 201, the highlight of which was a run of three birdies in a row from the ninth.
“I have a great deal of confidence from the way I’m playing right now,” he said. “I have been playing really solid, the course is good and everything is going the way I want it to. So I’m really confident and I hope to be that confident for one more day.
While the leading duo might be relatively inexperienced, the chasing trio of Raphael Jacquelin, Robert Karlsson and Jeev Milkha Sing are vastly knowledgeable about what it takes to win on The European Tour. Singh carded a third round 69 while the European duo went one better with respective 68s.
The close nature of the entire tournament was summed up by the fact that seven players – Thomas Levet, Pablo Larrazabal, Nick Dougherty, Rafa Echenique, Ross McGowan and Benn Barham – will go into the final round in a share of sixth place on ten under par 203, only five shots behind Strange.
