Monty back in the swing
on 04/07/2009 09:37:49
Colin Montgomerie may have ended his French Open Alstom second round on a bad note, but it was a different story on his return to Le Golf National near Paris today.
Europe's Ryder Cup captain, whose second place in the event last year was his last top-10 finish, survived the halfway cut with nothing to spare at one over par following a triple-bogey seven on the 18th.
However, he was up to joint 12th after 15 holes of his third round after grabbing three birdies and pitching in for an eagle two on the 383-yard sixth.
At four under par, he was six behind Argentina's Rafa Echenique - who took a two-stroke advantage over England's Steve Webster, German Martin Kaymer and South African Charl Schwartzel into the day.
Montgomerie's fellow Scot Gary Orr was also up to four under from the cut line. After bogeying the fourth, he birdied the sixth and ninth and then picked up four more in the next five holes.
Another finding better form was Ulsterman Darren Clarke, whose birdies at the third, sixth and seventh took him to three under.
Not everybody was having fun in the sun, though.
Norwegian Paul Nilbrink had a quintuple-bogey eight on the short second over the lake - and after an outward 44, he had trailed off last at eight over.