Date: September 28, 2008
Author:

Fraser hopes fading

Australian Marcus Fraser is five shots off the pace heading into the final day of the British Masters at The Belfry. Play was called off for the day on Saturday (UK time) with Fraser still complete five holes of his third round with fog causing chaos for tournament organisers. He is currently two-over par for the round and two-under overall in a share of 16th position. Kiwi Michael Campbell is tied for the lead on seven-under with first-round leader Mikael Lundberg of Sweden, who was hot on Saturday in going five-under through 14, and Spaniard Alejandro Canizares. Campbell, who finished third in this tournament last year, will look to put the finishing touches on a fine third round as he fired five birdies and a single bogey through 14 holes. Friday&aposs play was delayed by early fog, forcing players to finish their rounds on Saturday, and it was the same in the third round as tee times were pushed back and havoc kicked in. Both promoter Andrew Chandler – also Lee Westwood&aposs manager – and BBC Sport executive producer Paul Davies argued for a shotgun start to get the leaders back on the course as soon as possible. But after discussions with European Tour chief executive George O&aposGrady, chief referee John Paramor said: “We&aposve had the request before and it&aposs never been entertained because it&aposs not professional tournament golf.” “It just does not happen except in pro-ams. In serious tournament golf, no.” “It&aposs very difficult for the public to understand where the players are and there is no correlation between where they are and how many holes to go.” “The score means nothing until everybody is finished. And we are pretty confident that players would not like to be drawn to start on certain holes.” South African Charl Schwartzel was the first to take over at the top on Saturday, grabbing seven birdies in nine holes for a spectacular back nine of 29. The 24-year-old then went in the water for a double-bogey six at the fourth and just had time to complete a 66. He was the early clubhouse leader, but also on six-under were Westwood, Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano and Ross Fisher. Third Round of the British Masters (Par 72) Play suspended: -7: Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 69 72 (after 14 holes), Mikael Lundberg 67 75 (14), Alejandro Canizares 71 68 (10) -6: Charl Schwartzel 72 72 66, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano 71 70 (14), Jeev Milkha Singh 69 71 (13), Ross Fisher 71 68 (12), Lee Westwood 68 70 (10) -5: Magnus Carlsson 73 70 68 -4: Paul Lawrie 69 71 (13), Thongchai Jaidee 71 68 (12), Alexander Noren 72 66 (10) -3: Jean Van de Velde 72 74 (16), Thomas Bjorn 69 73 (15), Michael Jonzon 70 71 (14) -2: Pablo Larrazabal 74 71 69, Jean Francois Lucquin 71 72 71, Rory McIlroy 72 73 69, Phillip Price 71 71 (15), Soren Kjeldsen 73 69 (14), Phillip Archer 73 68 (13), David Dixon 69 72 (13), Marcus Fraser (Australia) 67 73 (13), Sam Walker 68 72 (13), Marc Warren 68 71 (12)