Monty gets into top gear in BMW

Colin Montgomerie, relieved to still be competing in the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth, moved up from 60th to 23rd with a third-round charge today.

At lunchtime yesterday the three-time winner of the title appeared to be heading out - for the first time since his 1989 debut - when he finished on two over par.

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But at 7.30pm last night it became clear his two closing birdies had squeezed him into the closing 36 holes of the European Tour's flagship event with nothing to spare.

And on resuming this morning Montgomerie, whose second-round 76 matched his worst-ever score in the tournament, birdied the fourth, fifth, 11th and 12th holes to improve to two under par.

That was still six adrift of leaders Justin Rose and Angel Cabrera, but with conditions expected to become tougher later in the day there was no knowing what the leading score would be going into the last round.

Ernie Els, another who had a 76 yesterday and has never fared worse than that on the course, was on the same two under mark as Montgomerie after an eagle on the long fourth.

There were others going well too. Australian left-hander Richard Green also set off again on two over and followed birdies at the fourth, 10th and 11th with an eagle on the next.

That put him on three under and into a share of 16th spot.

Swede Niclas Fasth stood two under after covering the front nine in a three-under 32 and Welshman Stephen Dodd turned in 34, birdied the 10th and eagled the 12th, but slipped back to one under by bogeying the 383-yard 16th.

Rose and Cabrera led by a stroke from Wentworth's own Ross Fisher and Australian Marcus Fraser.

The first change at the top of the leaderboard came when Fraser birdied the first to join Rose and Cabrera on eight under.

It had started raining by then, but Fisher, having bogeyed the first, got the shot back straightaway with a two on the 154-yard second.

Padraig Harrington, chasing not only the first prize of almost £500,000 but also a bonus of £680,000 for the double of Irish Open and PGA titles, was another to bogey the first and that took him back to five under.

Austrian Markus Brier, however, had four birdies in the first eight and was up to joint fourth with Fisher on seven under.