The German's response was devastating as he struck a three-wood approach to within eight feet for the fourth flag for the first of his eagle threes, and then wedged within five feet of the short fifth hole for a birdie two and a two stroke lead. That gave him a three stroke lead for the closing stretch, and had he been able to get the birdie at the 14th that his second shot from the rough deserved it would have been all over at that point. But Claydon kept his hopes alive by getting down from eight feet at the short 15th, only to miss from the same range on the next green, then put his one-iron tee shot at the 17th deep into a bush. The first had come over 54 holes in the Alfred Dunhill South African PGA Championship last year. But that was achieved with a last round 63 as he charged from seven strokes behind.
Golf is an amazing game.
You have a rough time and then suddenly you are on top of it. I played four rounds of excellent golf and I cannot remember playing so solidly for four successive rounds in the 60's. Coceres won nothing for the albatross which follows those notched by Anders Forsbrand in the Benson and Hedges International , and Diego Borrego in the Peugeot French Open . Chapman moved up from 20th to 15th in the Ryder Cup table , while Mark James who closed with a 65 to tie seventh, and David Gilford who was ninth, improved by one position to 14th and 18th respectively. The top ten in the table remain unchanged with four European events and the US PGA championship to count before the European team is finalised at the end of August.