DARREN Clarke was giving Nick Faldo a further nudge that he rather than Colin Montgomerie could be the man to complete Europe's Ryder Cup line-up.
Clarke marched into a commanding lead at the KLM Open in Holland. The 40-year-old Ulsterman had to wait until nearly 3pm to begin his third round, because of a lightning delay at the start of the day. But when he did, Clarke, who shared the halfway
lead with England's Robert Rock and Swede Alexander Noren, birdied the fourth, sixth and seventh while his rivals had a nightmare time.
Noren had double bogeys on the fourth and fifth, while Rock also took six at the fifth and then crashed to a quintuple-bogey nine on the next.
At 10 under Clarke was three clear of former English amateur champion Ross McGowan and Scotland's Marc Warren.
As for the battle for the last three automatic qualifying spots in Faldo's side, it was Mansfield's Oliver Wilson who was having much the best day of the contenders
his bogey-free 66 lifting him to five under and inside the top ten.
Justin Rose, £45,551 ahead of him on the points table, shot four under and a share of 14th.
Denmark's Soren Hansen, £213 ahead of German Martin Kaymer, was joint sixth when he teed off again, but shot a 74 which dropped him to two over and joint 54th.
Scotland's Paul O'Hara came storming up the field to grab fifth place during the final round of the European Amateur championship at the Esbjerg club in Denmark yesterday, writes Nick Rodger.
The Colville Park youngster, who was just inside the top 20 heading into the closing day, fired a four-under 67 for a one-under aggregate of 283 to finish just three strokes behind winner Stephan Gross of Germany.
Gross, one shot off the pace overnight, signed off with a 70 for a 280 to win by a stroke from Dutchman Richard Kind and secure himself a place in next year's Open at Turnberry.
Perth's Gavin Dear closed with a one-under 70 to claim an impressive share of sixth on 284 while Kilmarnock's Steven McEwan birdied three of his last five holes in a 67 to tie for 11th on 286. McEwan finished alongside Scottish matchplay champion Callum Macaulay who posted a 70. Comrie's Wallace Booth, the national strokeplay champion, finished well down the field on 295 after a closing 73.
The full article contains 423 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
