Forsyth's rivals are whacked by wind
Alastair Forsyth will rejoin the British challengers in the final round of the BMW International Open here after spending yesterday afternoon doing nothing more taxing than watching a DVD.
However, his choice of viewing in his Munich hotel room could not have been more appropriate. As the early clubhouse leader, the Glaswegian had put his feet up to watch the hit mafia TV series The Sopranos, while at the Golfclub Munchen-Nord a 40mph wind was gunning down his opponents.
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One by one, England's Paul Casey, current money-list leader Henrik Stenson and his fellow Swede and second-round leader Peter Hanson were blown off course.
After shooting 67, the lowest score of the day, Forsyth, who had started the day in joint 31st place, found himself last night tied for sixth place and only three shots adrift of the joint leaders, Portugal's Jose-Filipe Lima and Niclas Fasth of Sweden.
"It was while I was watching the DVDs that I got a call to say just how quickly I had moved up the leaderboard," said Forsyth. "The wind blew all afternoon and I could have no complaints.
"I certainly benefited from having an early start, the conditions were OK for my front nine where I made most of my scoring with four birdies.
"With the wind picking up as I finished, I knew those starting later were going to get the hardest of the conditions. And I decided to watch the DVDs rather than practise. During the afternoon in that wind, it could have done more harm than good to my swing."
The harm was inflicted out on the course, where the biggest casualty was Hanson. He saw his two-shot lead disappear as he ran up four bogeys in his first five holes.
England's Nick Dougherty, who had been keen to build on his top-10 finish at the US Open last weekend, offered a brief threat as he picked up three birdies in his first eight holes.
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However, a series of dropped shots as he struggled with his accuracy into the wind saw him drop back before he recovered to nine under par and a share of joint-third place with a 12-foot eagle putt on the 18th.
There was, however, one positive spin-off from last weekend at Oakmont in the 69 shot by Argentina's Ricardo Gonzalez, who is level with Forsyth.
He has been inspired by the US Open triumph of his fellow countryman,Angel Cabrera. "The whole country is very happy about it," he said.
"After waiting 40 years for an Argentinian to win a major, we feel that his win has given a great chance for every Argentine player, not just us young ones, to follow in his footsteps."
German interest today will centre on Bernhard Langer even though, after his first-round 76, he was always going to struggle to win his country's highest profile tournament for the first time.
Yet the way the 49-year-old German maestro recovered with a 66 on Friday and another 68 yesterday to move to six under will have been noticed on both sides of the Atlantic.
Langer turns 50 in late August and plans to launch a new career on both the European and US Seniors Tours where he looks certain to make a killing.
Last month, he came second in the Colonial Tournament in Fort Worth, losing to South African Rory Sabbatini in a play-off. It secured his full US Tour playing card for 2008.
The way he is playing, Langer could be in a position to cherry-pick the tournaments of four tours next year and he has not totally ruled out spending another year competing against the youngsters on the two main tours.
"Being able to choose where I play is going to be a nice luxury," said Langer last night. "I haven't played a senior event yet so I don't know what that will be like. But I will play wherever I feel that I can compete."
BMW INTERNATIONAL OPEN
THIRD ROUND SCORES
(GB and Ire unles stated)
205 — N Fasth (Swe) 73, J-F Lima (Por) 70
207 — N Dougherty 71, D Frost (SA) 70, T Levet (Fra) 72
208 — A Forsyth 67, R Gonzalez (Arg) 69, P Hanson (Swe) 74
209 — C Cevaer (Fra) 72, S Struver (Ger) 71,
210 — G Fernandez-Castano (Sp) 72, A Hansen (Den) 72, B Langer (Ger) 68 P Price 68, A Romero (Arg) 75
