Green's charge falters at the last

Adjust font size:

DOHA, Qatar -- Australian Richard Green wasted a great chance to stay clear of the chasing pack on Saturday when a double bogey on the last hole ruined his third round at the $2.2 million Qatar Masters.

The left-hander who had shot two successive bogey-free rounds on Thursday and Friday, found himself on rocky ground on Saturday, shooting a 71 that left him tied at the top with Retief Goosen and compatriot Nick O'Hern on 12-under-par 204.

Defending champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden and American Edward Michaels were in joint second spot with 10 under par 206 with the trio of Denmark's Soren Kjeldsen, Scotland's Paul Lawrie and Aussie Peter O'Malley sharing third place on nine-under-par 207.

Green and Goosen started the day on 11-under-par 133 and for much of the action the Australian seemed to be running away to a good score before blasting the ball into the rocks on the final hole at the Peter Harradine-designed desert course.

"I played pretty nicely, but the last hole was a bit of a shame," said Green, who has been on a 10-year title drought on the European tour after his Dubai Desert Classic victory in 1997.

"The wind was out of the right and I always struggle when the wind is out of the right there, especially with a driver in my hand.

"I was trying to not play the shot, and so maybe focused a little bit too hard on trying not to play that shot and played it."

Fellow left-hander O'Hern sympathized with Green for his last hole fiasco.

"It was a tough shot. I had the same one being a left-hander when the wind came off to the right. You struggle to hold the ball on the wind, and if it just goes on it can get away from you a bit. It's part and parcel of the game."

Green, who also had a bogey on the third hole, however would still consider himself lucky as Goosen, too, had an indifferent round in windy conditions.

Goosen, the World No 8. dropped shots on the ninth, 13th and 14th holes before retrieving the situation with three successive birdies on the 15th, 16th and 17th for a round of 71.

"I needed to finish with three birdies on the last four holes to have sort of a chance," said Goosen.

"Fifteen, 16 and 17 were easy holes on the back nine because they were playing downwind. So that worked out nicely according to plan."

Goosen suggested he was not being carried away by the weather forecasts for Sunday. "The forecast was calm weather for today, so (they) didn't quite get that right," said Goosen, who failed to win a single title last year.

In the running

American Michaels shot an eagle on the 16th to shoot a 69 which put him in the running for Sunday's top prize, despite finding just one fairway over the first 12 holes.

"I actually hit a couple of good drives the first few holes but just didn't account for the wind, "said Michaels, who is playing his first tournament since 2005 in Okinawa because of a shoulder injury which required surgery.

"The golf gods are doing me a favor right now, so hopefully they will give me one more day of being nice to me."

Meanwhile, 2005 champion Ernie Els was quietly eyeing another title in Doha after his 68 left him four shots off the pace on 208.

That left him with a sense of deja vu as he had won the 2005 title from a similar situation. "Yeah, I was trying to remember how many shots I was behind. If I am five behind I feel I have an outside chance," said Els after his bogey-free round.

But the "Big Easy" was still not pleased with himself.

"Today I don't know what happened. I don't know, my rhythm wasn't good on the driver. I made some mental errors. I mis-clubbed myself, hit it in the wrong places."

Get up-to-the minute news from CNN CNN.com gives you the latest stories and video from the around the world, with in-depth coverage of U.S. news, politics, entertainment, health, crime, tech and more.

---

• Feds: Couple crashed Obama's state dinner
• Orphan finds new life in Israel
• Politician charged over Philippines massacre
• Dubai shock after debt standstill call
• Site posts reported 9/11 text messages

• Irish PM to quit over payments scandal
• NATO chief: Afghan troop increase likely
• Militants hunted as calm retuns to Basra
• Pressure on Bush to skip Olympics
• BA sending misplaced T5 baggage to Milan

• Recruiting suicide bombers (2:50)
• London was lucky (2:36)
• Cars in London rigged as bombs (3:48)
• Second explosives-packed car foun (2:32)
• Soviet culture returns (3:47)