Montgomerie defies pain to set up Woods showdown

Former European No 1 holds one-stroke advantage over world No 1 as young Briton blossoms

Golf, as someone once said, may not be a game of perfection, but a quite exceptional standard was presented before a sell-out gallery of 20,000 here yesterday. It was not just provided by the best player in the world, but also by a leading European player desperate to avoid the prefix "former" and a young Briton whose career is just coming into blossom.

The third round of the Deutsche Bank SAP Open saw rounds of 64 from Tiger Woods, 65 from Colin Montgomerie and 66 from Justin Rose. Woods, the world No 1, and Montgomerie, the Europe's No 1 for seven years in the 1990s, will form the final pairing of the final round for the first time. Montgomerie, at 17 under par, will begin with a one-stroke advantage over the defending champion with Rose two further behind.

Montgomerie's chances, he admitted, depend on the state of his back, on which he required treatment on the course during the third round. "If I have some treatment, sleep well and get some flexibility into my back I'll be OK," he said. "If I don't have the flexibility, I'll play but I can't win. It is very sore right now."

Montgomerie suffered a recurrence of his back problem at a company day last Monday. He could not complete the pro-am and felt the pain again after bending down to line up a putt on the third green. He had a physiotherapist rub in an ointment on the sixth tee and was allowed a five-minute time-out after nine holes for some manipulation. He took four pain-killers in the morning and two more on the course. "Far too many but what the hell."

Famously, Montgomerie played with Woods in the third round of the 1997 Masters. Before the round, Montgomerie was relishing seeing the youngster under the pressure of leading a major. Tiger recalls having a lot of fun. He shot 65, Montgomerie 74. Afterwards the Scot declared there was "no way humanly possible" that Woods would not win. Tiger won by 12, Monty did not break 80 in the last round. "The boy had potential," Montgomerie joked yesterday, "and he's proved it."

Woods started two behind yesterday, but hit a three-iron to 12 feet at the first and holed the putt for an eagle. He had birdies at the next and the par-five third before hitting a nine-iron to a foot at the fifth. Fortunately for Montgomerie, there were no leaderboards early on the course to show that he was already behind.

The Scot nevertheless responded with an eagle and two birdies in the first five holes to regain the lead. Twice he lost it, falling two behind with his second bogey of the day at the 10th, but birdies at the 11th, the 13th, from three feet, the 14th, from a foot and a half, and the 17th re-established his advantage.

Woods came home in 32 and did not drop a shot. He rated it a better round than his 63 in the third round on the old layout last year when he had holed two long putts for eagles. Yesterday, as all week, he lipped out and shaved the hole on numerous occasions.

"I hit a lot more clean shots today," Tiger said. "It's been a while since I hit the ball like that all day, from first tee to the second shot at 18. I probably only have two or three ball-striking rounds like that a year."

Asked how many perfect shots the round contained, Woods replied none. "I only hit one perfect shot last year, a two-iron at home, maybe one or two the year before. There was a three-wood at the 14th on the Saturday of the Open at St Andrews [in 2000]. I'm nit-picking but perfect shots don't come along very often in this game."

Montgomerie has never beaten Woods and has not won since last August. "It's a good test to see where my game is," Montgomerie said. "I need to play my own game, the game that worked for me so well for so many years, hitting fairways and greens and holing a few putts. If you try and play his game you'll lose."

Rose, two ahead of Greg Owen, is best placed if the leaders slip up. The 21-year-old's career was almost destroyed by missing cuts after his sensational fourth place as an amateur in the 1998 Open. But this season he has won three times, twice in South Africa and a fortnight ago in Japan, after missing the cut the week before, just as he did at The Belfry last week.

"I'm just a bit mentally sharper this week," Rose said. "I'm not daunted by those above me, I feel very comfortable playing under pressure.

"On the front nine the pins were getting scared. At the sixth, I gripped down on a five-iron, took a bit off the swing, got a nice high flight and it stopped a foot away. You could argue a perfect shot would have gone in the hole but it was exactly as I wanted to play the shot."

THIRD-ROUND SCORES GB and Irl unless stated, par 72

199 C Montgomerie 66 68 65

200 T Woods (US) 69 67 64

202 J Rose 71 65 66

204 G Owen 68 68 68

205 P Fulke (Swe) 69 70 66, R Gonzalez (Arg) 71 67 67, R Green (Aus) 68 67 70, A Cejka (Ger) 64 70 71

206 E Romero (Arg) 67 70 69

207 S Luna (Sp) 72 70 65, P Harrington 71 70 66, R Karlsson (Swe) 71 69 67, M Olander (Swe) 69 69 69, M Pilkington 71 64 72

208 C Rodiles (Sp) 71 69 68, A Forsyth 69 70 69, J Van de Velde (Fr) 69 70 69, A Cabrera (Arg) 69 69 70, I Woosnam 68 67 73, D Clarke 67 68 73

209 J Haeggman (Swe) 71 70 68, B Dredge 70 69 70, G Orr 71 67 71, T Bjorn (Den) 73 65 71

210 F Jacobson (Swe) 73 68 69, S Kjeldsen (Den) 72 68 70, S Webster 73 67 70, G Turner (NZ) 65 74 71, D Carter 71 67 72, H Bjornstad (Nor) 67 70 73

211 A Scott (Aus) 70 73 68, P Lawrie 72 71 68, T Immelman (SA) 67 74 70, A Hansen (Den) 72 68 71

212 S Delagrange (Fr) 71 73 68, M Campbell (NZ) 71 72 69, M Brier (Aut) 72 71 69, M Foster 71 71 70, G Brand Jnr 72 70 70, J Bickerton 70 71 71, P Sjoland (Swe) 72 68 72, Gary Clark 68 72 72

213 Marc Farry (Fr) 71 73 69, S Struver (Ger) 72 71 70, S Tinning (Den) 70 73 70, M Lafeber (Neth) 73 69 71, J Hugo (SA) 71 70 72, R Russell 67 74 72

214 S Hansen (Den) 73 71 70, R Johnson (Swe) 68 76 70, R Muntz (Neth) 70 73 71, N O'Hern (Aus) 73 70 71, J Donaldson 71 71 72, A Oldcorn 72 70 72, O Karlsson (Swe) 72 70 72, I Garbutt 71 69 74

215 B Langer (Ger) 73 71 71, D Lynn 71 73 71, N Cassini (US) 74 70 71, E Canonica (It) 70 73 72, N Fasth (Swe) 71 72 72, A Coltart 72 71 72, S Scahill (NZ) 74 68 73, R Goosen (SA) 72 69 74

216 C Pettersson (Swe) 74 70 72, J Spence 71 73 72, D Fichardt (SA) 67 75 74, G Emerson 70 72 74

217 D Lee 72 72 73, N Dougherty 74 69 74

218 M Vide-Hastrup (Den) 70 74 74, P Golding 70 72 76

219 S Leaney (Aus) 75 69 75, S Gallacher 75 69 75

220 D Drysdale 71 73 76, A Wall 72 72 76

221 D Borrego (Sp) 70 74 77.