FORMER British amateur champion Graeme Storm will be aiming for nothing less than victory when the final round of the CA Championship is completed.
That outcome is not beyond the realms of possibility, because Storm is right in the thick of contention, three strokes behind leader Geoff Ogilvy more than halfway through the final round.
Hartlepool's Storm, playing just his second World Golf Cha
mpionships event, was equal fourth at 14 under after nine holes when play was halted for the day in fading light at Doral Resort's Blue Monster.
Australian Ogilvy led at 17 under after nine holes, two shots ahead of American Jim Furyk (ten holes) and Fiji's Vijay Singh (nine holes).
Tiger Woods' seven-event winning streak was in serious jeopardy, as he trailed by five strokes with just seven holes to play.
Storm admitted to being nervous starting the final round in the final group, but he soon settled down to make two birdies in a flawless front nine.
"It's such a big event," he said. "The last group is the best position I've ever been in. The winning thoughts have been going on out there because I've been playing well. The swing doesn't feel fantastic but it's holding up at the moment.
"I'm getting a chance to do a few things on the range before I play again, so I'll just try and settle into it in the morning as quickly as possible.
"We'll see what happens. I can try and shoot four-or-five under on the back nine. That's what I need to do."
Ogilvy, who started the round with a four-shot edge, completed 60 holes this week (and 68 altogether stretching back to last week) without dropping a shot, before finally posting a bogey at the par-four seventh. As if the weather delay which prevented most of the field from completing the third round on Saturday was not bad enough, it was a similar story yesterday.
The final group had completed just two holes when threatening weather stopped play and though not a single drop of rain fell, the delay stretched nearly three hours before officials deemed the electrical activity was far enough away for competition to safely resume.
It was too late by then for the leaders to complete the round, although others were more fortunate. In the third round, Storm carded a nine-under-par 63, coming home in 29 strokes courtesy of an eagle and five birdies.
"To come back in 29 on a golf course like this is a massive confidence boost," he said.
Storm's ball was in a fairway bunker at the par-four 16th when play was halted due to bad weather on Saturday, so he was able to place the ball for the resumption, nipping a nice bunker shot to seven feet for birdie.
And he closed in style with another birdie at the last, a nice drive avoiding the water, before he hit a raking four-iron that covered the pin, settling ten feet away.
Storm's lofty position was a far cry from Thursday, when he slumped to three over after just nine holes, before picking up four shots coming home.
"I made so many mistakes the first two days," he said. "That was the reason I was only three under. I cut out all the mistakes (in the third round)."
Ogilvy, meanwhile, resumed yesterday with seven holes left, picking up two birdies with long putts to shoot 68 and jump clear of the field in soggy conditions.
The full article contains 593 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
