Open update

Published on Saturday 19 July 2008 15:24

THE latest on the 2008 Open

Justin Rose's hopes of repeating his Open Championship heroics of a decade ago were blown away on a tough third day at Royal Birkdale.

Winds gusting up to 40mph were buffeting the Lancashire links and Rose, fourth here as a 17-year-old amateur in 1998, was among those to come unstuck in the conditions.

The world number nine dropped seven shots in his first seven holes to slump from the fringes of contention to 13 over par and out of the reckoning, and he was not alone.

Lee Westwood four-putted the first hole in a round of 78, the former European number one currently joint last on 17 over with just two birdies in 54 holes to his name. He missed from four feet for birdie on the last and joked: "I didn't want to spoil it."

Ernie Els managed a 74 to finish 13 over and Paul Casey was 12 over after a 73, a total matched by Colin Montgomerie after a 74.

Former champion Ben Curtis had threatened to defy the conditions with a front nine of 31, the lowest of the week, which included a fortunate eagle on the third.

The 31-year-old American, 396th in the world at the time of his shock win at Sandwich in 2003, turned away from his second shot in disgust but then seeing it blown back on target and taking a friendly bounce before rolling into the hole for a two.

A birdie on the fifth was followed by a bogey on the sixth – one of three holes shortened in anticipation of the bad weather – but after another birdie on the seventh, Curtis dropped three shots in a row from the 11th to fall back to seven over.

Warrington's Phillip Archer was the first man out at 7:30am, the 36-year-old playing on his own as the odd man out of the 83 to make the cut and carding a 78.

"It was the toughest day so far. Staying steady over the ball was the hardest bit," he said. "The ball is oscillating as you address it and you're scared to put the putter down in case the ball moves."

Royal and Ancient club chief executive Peter Dawson admitted play could be halted if the wind strengthened enough to make balls move on the greens.

"We have taken all the steps we can. The greens were not rolled and have only been single cut," Dawson said. "We are keeping a close eye on it, let's hope the wind doesn't get so high that the ball starts to move. That's the only thing that would stop play.

"We changed a lot of our plans for the pin positions, took them off the high spots and put them nearer the centre of the greens. They are relatively benign but the wind will more than make up for that."

A round of 70 was good enough for Sweden's Henrik Stenson to hold the clubhouse lead, the Ryder Cup player finishing eight over par.