Padraig Harrington was spot on when he announced that this was the most open Open he has ever contested.

Unfortunately for the Dubliner, at nine over par he is unlikely to be involved in the cavalry charge for the old Claret Jug at venerable Royal St George’s today.

His close friend, the big Dane Thomas Bjorn, shot a two under par 69 to take a one-shot lead over Davis Love III into the final round.

But with Tiger Woods (69) lurking just two behind on one over par alongside Fiji’s Vijay Singh (69), Americans Kenny Perry (70) and Ben Curtis (70), and Spain’s Sergio Garcia (70) anything can happen.

Yesterday’s third round was the epitome of the drama, excitement and heartbreak that we associate with what is arguably the most romantic of the game’s four Major championships.

First, Woods made two eagles and a birdie on the front nine to grab the lead. Then, clubhouse leader Mark Roe was disqualified for signing for an incorrect score before Garcia holed an outrageous 75-yard pitch at the 17th to keep his title hopes alive.

When the dusty finally settled on Sandwich’s sun-baked fairways no fewer than 17 players were lying within five shots of the lead, with Woods the obvious dangerman.

The world number one stamped his class on the day with two eagles in a breathtaking five under par front nine of 31 but found the back nine far tougher and made just one birdie at the 14th to go with bogeys at the 11th, 13th and 17th.

Woods said: “All I can do is put myself in position to have a chance tomorrow. Most of us will have a good front nine but the back side tomorrow will weed us out.

“I won all my Majors leading from the front so perhaps it’s time to win another way.”

Bjorn had begun the day two behind Love on one over par, but after a birdie at the fourth and a bogey at the sixth, he played the remaining holes in level par for a 69 that was one of eight rounds in the sixties yesterday.

Overnight leader Love had stumbled early on as was three over for the day before he made eagle three at signature 14th to get back into the race.

One man who won’t be contesting the title is Roe, who carded a five under par 67 to take the clubhouse lead on one over par only to be disqualified along with playing partner Jesper Parnevik for signing for an incorrect score.

Roe and Parnevik forgot to exchange scorecards on the first tee. Roe mistakenly wrote Parneviks’s scores on a card that said ‘Mark Roe’ on the top and Parnevik did the same.

They had already signed the cards when the error was discovered and were disqualified under rule 6-6D.

But Roe, 40, took his disappointment with the same degree of sportsmanship and humour that Harrington displayed when he was disqualified when leading in the Benson and Hedges International three years ago.

He joked: “To be perfectly honest I was distracted by Jesper’s outfit once again. I simply couldn’t believe the colour of his trousers.

“I remember that he (Harrington) held up incredibly well and went on to play better and better. Hopefully I’ll keep on playing the way I’m playing and do something special in the coming weeks.”

While all this was going only Paul McGinley shot a two under par 69 to move to six over as Darren Clarke (71), Gary Murphy (73) and Harrington (74) failed to make an impression on the leaderboard.

McGinley took just 27 putts as he relived the adrenalin buzz of the Ryder Cup while Harrington’s 74 contained an eagle and four birdies with five bogeys and two double bogeys.

McGinley said: “I had so may good breaks today and holed three good putts between 20 and 40 feet. I hit it in the rough a few times as well and got really good lies.

“The atmosphere was unbelievable. Every stand was packed and the roars brought back memories of last September.”

But while McGinley was reliving the positive vibes of the Belfry it was a familiar tale of woe from Darren Clarke.

One under par for his round after five holes, he carded a level par 71 to finish where he started, on eight over par.

Clarke sighed: “I just played average. It will be very pleasant to get in a car tomorrow afternoon to go home.”

Unsurprisingly, Harrington was philosophical after a 74 that ended his title dream. One under to the turn, he double bogeyed the tenth and then dropped shots at the 11th and 12th.

He said: “It certainly a was a bit of a mixed day. Ten knocked the stuffing out of me. From then on it was a case of firing at the flags and seeing what was happening.

“I'm playing average and if you hit a few bad shots on this golf course it is very hard to make up for them. As I said to Dave (McNeilly) the birdie on 13 was the first birdie this week that wasn't a two-putt.

“It's not disappointing. It would be more disappointing if I was playing well and shooting these scores.”

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© Brian Keogh 2003

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