Nick Dougherty, Ignacio Garrido and Jeppe Huldahl share the lead after an eventful third day at the Wales Open.
Ramsay fails to finish third round, could face two-shot penalty
Nick Dougherty, Ignacio Garrido and little-known Dane Jeppe Huldahl share the lead in the Wales Open after an eventful third day at Celtic Manor.
The trio are locked together at the summit on five under par, though three players are still to finish their rounds following a lengthy weather delay.
Play was finally suspended at 9pm after the start on Saturday had been held up for well over six hours because of heavy rain.
The downpours meant both fairways and bunkers were left flooded at the venue for next year's Ryder Cup.
Ramsay summoned
Richie Ramsay, who had held a one-shot lead at the halfway stage, was on four under when he was called in, though that wasn't the end of his day.
The European Tour rookie was summoned to see chief referee John Paramor to study an incident that took place on the eighth hole.
Placing of the ball was in operation and Ramsay was questioned over whether he had improved his area of intended swing by pressing down the ground behind where he was going to play his next shot from.
After nearly two hours of talks no final decision was made, meaning the Scot will find out before he tees off on Sunday whether he will be hit with a two-stroke penalty.
"Obviously it's something Richie is concerned about," said Paramor. "He says he was just trying to find any casual water, but he now knows that's not the way to go about it.
"If he's absolutely positive he did not improve his area of swing then I can't impose a penalty on him based on what I've seen on television, but it's been left with Richie to come back to us in the morning."
With the course proving tricky the leaderboard became extremely congested - a total of 14 players are covered by just two shots heading into the final day.
Dougherty did wonderfully well to sign for a score of 70 considering he reached the turn having taken 40 shots.
The Englishman closed with an eagle in gloomy conditions to leave himself level with Spaniard Garrido (71) and Huldahl, who moved into contention with a round of 68.
Proud
"I prepared as if this was the last round and I'm proud of myself because I got into the lead," Dougherty said.
"I backed myself, which is something I've not done for a year. I deserved the good results I got and my putter got hot again. If you trust yourself there's a good chance it will happen."
Ramsay is joined in second by Simon Dyson and Paul Waring, the two Englishmen having both signed for 70's.
Meanwhile, Colin Montgomerie saw his hopes of a first top 10 finish this season suffer a potentially fatal blow, the Scot slipping back from joint eighth to 46th on three over par following a desperately disappointing 78.
The European Ryder Cup captain finds himself one shot back of his American counterpart Corey Pavin, who having just made the cut fired a level-par 72.
