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Fasth, Lima share BMW lead
23/06/2007 20:17 - (SA)
Munich - Sweden's Niclas Fasth and
Jose-Filipe Lima of Portugal shared a two-shot lead after the
third round of the BMW International Open on Saturday.
An eagle on the 11th carried first round joint-leader Lima
back to front of the pack but second round front-runner Fasth
climbed back to the top of the leaderboard with him after a
closing birdie at Eichenried, where a strong wind affected
scoring.
A two-under 70 by Lima and 73 by Fasth left the pair
11-under on 205, two shots in front of South Afric's David Frost
(70), Frenchman Thomas Levet (72) and Britain's Nick Dougherty
(71).
Lima, battling back to form after a worrying time with back
problems, said he had tried to stay calm about missing fairways
and putts in the windy conditions on a course toughened up by
thicker rough this year.
Lima, born in Versailles where his father worked at St Nom
la Breteche golf course, shrugged off his bad holes to contend
strongly again.
After falling back with a double-bogey on the eighth, he
vaulted ahead of the field with a raking 45-foot putt on 11.
"I stuck to the same gameplan I've had all week and thought
calmly," Lima told Reuters. "If I missed some shots or putts I
tried to forget it and get on with it."
While Lima is trying to add to his 2004 St Omer Open
success, Fasth is looking for his sixth tournament victory, the
week after finishing fourth in the US Open.
Fasth began confidently enough and increased his overnight
lead to three shots but wavered with four bogeys on the front
nine to allow Lima to take over.
Even then the Swede nearly edged ahead on the last, where
his eagle putt just failed to drop.
Fasth waved aside a suggestion that he might have been
feeling the effects of his US Open efforts.
"I might well have felt more energetic if I'd had a week off
but I've cut back on practice and made a little bit of a
compromise this week and I'm still strong," he told reporters.
Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez finished three shots off the
lead. The European Tour triple winner boosted his round of 69
with an eagle two on the 16th, driving the 300-yard green and
holing a 12-foot putt.
Bernhard Langer's bid to claim the only German title he has
not won looked good when he raced six under for the day by the
13th but the 49-year-old German dropped two strokes in the last
three holes for a 68 which left him five shots off the lead.
- Reuters
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