Michael Campbell takes a two shot lead into the final round of the Compass Group English Open at Marriott Forest of Arden as he chases his third victory on the 2000 European Tour International Schedule.
Campbell shot a level par 72 for a 54-hole total of 204, 12 under par, but his lead was cut from five strokes to two as Lee Westwood, winner of the Deutsche Bank – SAP Open TPC of Europe a fortnight ago, moved ominously into second with a round of 67. A shot further back is the 1999 Ryder Cup captain Mark James after a superb round of 65, twice a former winner of this event. Last week’s Volvo PGA Champion and the winner of the last European Tour event to be played on the Arden course, Colin Montgomerie, advanced to eight under with a round of 69 to move within four shots of the lead alongside Australian Peter O’Malley.
As in the Johnnie Walker Classic in Taiwan, when Campbell claimed his first European Tour title and the first of four victories on the European and Australasian Tours in the space of three months, the 31-year-old New Zealander has led from the start.
“I feel pretty comfortable,” he said. “I’ve done it before, I’ve won before from this position leading from wire to wire. Today was pretty sub-standard. I played very average today. Struggled with my driver. I was a little bit too anxious on a few shots and swung it too quickly.
“Tomorrow will be a challenge. As well as Lee, there’s also Monty and Mark James who played great today. There’s a bunch of guys who are in range but all I can do is focus on my own game and forget about what the other guys do.”
Westwood needed to shoot low to close the gap and made an immediate impression with four birdies on the front nine. He picked up another shot on the back nine to move right into contention.
He said: “I’m in with a good chance tomorrow. I had to go out today and shoot a good score and I’m was pleased with a 67.
“I’m two shots behind now as I was in Germany. I’ll go out with the same attitude I go out with every week. I tend not to be too defensive at weekends as you would have seen from my scores lately. I just normally go out and attack and see what happens. I always like to be in the last group on Sundays. Means you’ve got half a chance.”
James charged up the leaderboard with six birdies in a front nine of 30 after a spectator had come up to him at the end of his second round with a little putting tip. By stopping his left wrist from “turning to jelly” James rolled in 26 putts in a round of 65. “I’ve been saving all those putts up for quite some time,” he said. “It’s a tough course for me. It suits the big hitters but when you hole a few putts it does reduce it in size.”
Third round video highlights
