MAARTEN LAFEBER and Adam Scott share a two-shot lead going into the final round of the Scandic Carlsberg Scandinavian Masters at the Barsebäck Golf and Country Club in Sweden. The pair – who shot 69 and 67 respectively for third-round totals of eight-under par 208 – are ahead of Carl Pettersson, Steve Webster, Luke Donald and Nick Dougherty.
Scott has had a recent run of poor form that has seen him miss four out of five cuts before this weekend. A victory would complete his rehabilitation.
“My form recently hasn’t been good and it’s the first time in my career that a period like that has lasted for quite a while,” said the 23-year-old Australian.
“I’ve been putting really poorly but I think I’m starting to come back to the form I would like. I played really solid, didn’t drop any shots and just played quite conservatively but it worked well.”
Lafeber will be determined to secure his first win after five years on The European Tour. The Dutchman birdied the 18th to join Scott for a share of the lead.
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Dougherty, playing in the last group with James, and the leader after the first two rounds, chipped in for birdie at the ninth but struggled throughout his third round of two-over par 74.
Swede Pettersson, who is due to get married next week, fired a course record 66 to move into joint third.
Former Ryder Cup captain Mark James is among seven players one stroke further back on five-under.
GARY LOCKERBIE, from Penrith, beat Middeslbrough’s Michael Skelton 6&5 in the English Amateur Championship final at Alwoodley, near Leeds. Newmachar’s Graham Gordon won the Scottish Amateur Championship at the Duke’s Course, St Andrews, defeating Stuart Wilson (Forfar) 4&3. The Welsh amateur title was won by Stuart Manley of Mountain Ash who beat Royal Porthcawl’s Rhys Davies 8&7.
Cycling
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AUSTRALIA shattered their own world record by more than two seconds in beating Britain to win the men’s four-kilometre team pursuit in Stuttgart, Germany, considered the banner event of the World Track Cycling Championships.
The team of Graeme Brown, Brett Lancaster, Luke Roberts and Peter Dawson defeated Britain in the 14-lap event at Zurich in Switzerland, smashing the nation’s own previous record in 3min 57.280sec.
It had set the previous record of 3:59.583 at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester a year ago.
Britain’s Robert Hayles, Paul Manning, Bryan Steel and Bradley Wiggins took silver in 4:00.629.
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Laurent Gane of France won the men’s sprint title, edging out Australia’s Jobie Dajka in the best-of-three final.
Russia’s Olga Slusareva collected her second gold medal of the championships, winning the women’s scratch race.
Motor racing
AUDI driver Johnny Herbert set the pace in testing at Trois Rivieres in Quebec as the former grand prix winner stepped up his American Le Mans Series title bid. The Essex-born racer, 39, clocked a fastest lap of 59.741sec around the Canadian streets to pip fellow Englishman James Weaver. Herbert, who is partnered by JJ Lehto, is in a four-way title battle and is seven points off joint championship leaders Frank Biela and Marco Werner, who share a Joest Audi.
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Motor rallying
YORKSHIRE’S Jonny Milner won his third Pirelli British Rally Championship event in a row, leading the Manx International from start to finish.
Gliding
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BRITAIN’S Andy Davis took the overall lead on the fourth day of the standard class of the World Gliding Championships in Poland, overtaking the French pair of Olivier Darroze and Laurent Aboulin.
Darts
TEN-times world champion Phil Taylor retained his Stan James World Matchplay title with a 18-12 victory over Dagenham’s Wayne Mardle in Blackpool last night.
‘The Power’ simply had too much for the 29-year-old, who was competing in his first world final. Mardle opened up by registering a .maximum with his first three darts before nailing double five, but could not sustain the challenge.