Senior Open Championship: Tom Watson's got the bug of the links

• Tom Watson stayed in touch despite unwelcome attention from bugs. Photograph: Getty Images

"The bugs were unbelievable out there. On ten of the 18 holes I looked down at my top and there were 30 flies on me," observed Tommy Armour III, grandson of the Edinburgh-born player who won the Open Championship here in 1931. Sam Torrance was swatting away after getting some unwanted attention and even Tom Watson commented on the non-paying intruders, though, in his case, through the eyes of a keen angler. "This would be a good day for trout fishing - they'd be rising today," said the American.

Watson has been the big catch at Carnoustie this week. Even though he started the day seven shots off the lead, the three-time winner was still the main attraction among fans who have worshipped him since he recorded the first of his five Open Championship wins on this course in 1975. Watson, who says the feeling is mutual, waved goodbye to St Andrews, competitively at least, last week and nostaligia is likely to fill the air again at Carnoustie today.

Watson experienced a first earlier this week when he abseiled down a 40-feet wall during a visit to RM Condor at nearby Arbroath. "The 18th hole here is more scary but I had good instruction and one of the things I've learned in my life is to listen to instructors," he said.At three-over for the tournament, he's nine shots behind leader Bernhard Langer, who, in the eyes of Watson at least, is the man in pole position for a top prize of just over 200,000 due to the fact he's been paying due respect to Carnoustie's penal bunkers. "Bernhard has been treating them seriously, he's not been challenging them, as I did," he noted.

Sharing the lead with Corey Pavin, the US Ryder Cup captain, at the start of the day, Langer laid down his marker straight away, the long putter that has helped him overcome the yips sending a 20-footer into the hole for an opening birdie. His lead quickly doubled when Pavin dropped a shot at the third and, after another slip at the tenth, Langer had a three-stroke cushion.

While Langer has racked up 11 titles - ten of them on the Champions Tour - since turning 50 less than three years ago, he's still waiting on his first major success. However, the former Ryder Cup captain admitted the set-up of the Carnoustie course is suiting his eye this week a lot better than it did for the 1999 Open Championship. "There were too many doglegs (then]," he recalled. "The way they shaped the fairways made dogelegs out of straight holes, or more so. Some of the fairways were too narrow and some of the rough too severe. That took the driver out of the game for a great part."

Continuing to drive majestically, Langer increased his lead to four with a third birdie of the day at the 15th, though the pars he was making in between the gains were just as would have been just as demoralising for the chasing pack. Two more regulation figures were added before a closing bogey, the result of finding an awkward lie in a bunker off the tee, added up to a 69 and a 54-hole total of 207, three less than Pavin, who signed for a 72.

Ian Woosnam apart - the Welshman had an up-and-down afternoon but is still in contention on two-under - the six nearest challengers to Langer are all Americans, with Pavin, Fred Funk, Jay Don Blake, Russ Cochran, Jay Haas and Larry Mize still in with a decent chance of extending a sequence that has seen this title head across the Atlantic since 2003. Langer, though, looks in the mood to end the trend.

For the second day running, Torrance faltered after a promising start. One-under after five holes, the former Ryder Cup captain signed off his front nine 6-6-4-5, spilling five shots in the process. He dropped the same number of shots towards the end and eventually returned an 80 for 226, 13-over.

Ross Drummond and Gordon Brand Jnr, both on eight-over, are the leading Scots heading into the final round. Drummond looked to have repaired the damage of a double-bogey 7 at Hogan's Alley with a birdie-eagle burst at the 12th and 13th only to finish 7-5 for a 75, two more than Brand Jnr signed for earlier in the day. Bill Longmuir (76) is a shot behind his two fellow countrymen, with Fraser Mann, Carnoustie born and bred, two strokes further adrift after a 78 that included a visit to the Barry Burn at the last.

MASTERING Carnoustie is hard enough. Trying to do so as a plague of greenfly is hitting the Angus coast makes it doubly difficult, perhaps explaining an overall rise in scoring on a third day of the Senior Open Championship that, condition-wise at least, looked easier than the previous two.

"The bugs were unbelievable out there. On ten of the 18 holes I looked down at my top and there were 30 flies on me," observed Tommy Armour III, grandson of the Edinburgh-born player who won the Open Championship here in 1931. Sam Torrance was swatting away after getting some unwanted attention and even Tom Watson commented on the non-paying intruders, though, in his case, through the eyes of a keen angler. "This would be a good day for trout fishing - they'd be rising today," said the American.

Watson has been the big catch at Carnoustie this week. Even though he started the day seven shots off the lead, the three-time winner was still the main attraction among fans who have worshipped him since he recorded the first of his five Open Championship wins on this course in 1975. Watson, who says the feeling is mutual, waved goodbye to St Andrews, competitively at least, last week and nostaligia is likely to fill the air again at Carnoustie today.

Watson experienced a first earlier this week when he abseiled down a 40-feet wall during a visit to RM Condor at nearby Arbroath. "The 18th hole here is more scary but I had good instruction and one of the things I've learned in my life is to listen to instructors," he said.At three-over for the tournament, he's nine shots behind leader Bernhard Langer, who, in the eyes of Watson at least, is the man in pole position for a top prize of just over 200,000 due to the fact he's been paying due respect to Carnoustie's penal bunkers. "Bernhard has been treating them seriously, he's not been challening them, as I did," he noted.

Sharing the lead with Corey Pavin, the US Ryder Cup captain, at the start of the day, Langer laid down his marker straight away, the long putter that has helped him overcome the yips sending a 20-footer into the hole for an opening birdie. His lead quickly doubled when Pavin dropped a shot at the third and, after another slip at the tenth, Langer had a three-stroke cushion.

While Langer has racked up 11 titles - ten of them on the Champions Tour - since turning 50 less than three years ago, he's still waiting on his first major success. However, the former Ryder Cup captain admitted the set-up of the Carnoustie course is suiting his eye this week a lot better than it did for the 1999 Open Championship. "There were too many doglegs [then]," he recalled. "The way they shaped the fairways made dogelegs out of straight holes, or more so. Some of the fairways were too narrow and some of the rough too severe. That took the driver out of the game for a great part."

Continuing to drive majestically, Langer increased his lead to four with a third birdie of the day at the 15th, though the pars he was making in between the gains were just as would have been just as demoralising for the chasing pack. Two more regulation figures were added before a closing bogey, the result of finding an awkward lie in a bunker off the tee, added up to a 69 and a 54-hole total of 207, three less than Pavin, who signed for a 72.

Ian Woosnam apart - the Welshman had an up-and-down afternoon but is still in contention on two-under - the six nearest challengers to Langer are all Americans, with Pavin, Fred Funk, Jay Don Blake, Russ Cochran, Jay Haas and Larry Mize still in with a decent chance of extending a sequence that has seen this title head across the Atlantic since 2003. Langer, though, looks in the mood to end the trend. For the second day running, Torrance faltered after a promising start. One-under after five holes, the former Ryder Cup captain signed off his front nine 6-6-4-5, spilling five shots in the process. He dropped the same number of shots towards the end and eventually returned an 80 for 226, 13-over.

Ross Drummond and Gordon Brand Jnr, both on eight-over, are the leading Scots heading into the final round. Drummond looked to have repaired the damage of a double-bogey 7 at Hogan's Alley with a birdie-eagle burst at the 12th and 13th only to finish 7-5 for a 75, two more than Brand Jnr signed for earlier in the day. Bill Longmuir (76) is a shot behind his two fellow countrymen, with Fraser Mann, Carnoustie born and bred, two strokes further adrift after a 78 that included a visit to the Barry Burn at the last.