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Spanish youngster leads French Open after third round

28/06/2008

Spain's Pablo Larrazabal is the surprise leader on 11-under-par heading into the final round of the French Open.

Larrazabal is three shots ahead of Colin Montgomerie and Soren Hansen who are tied for second place, while England's Lee Westwood and David Lynn are one shot further adrift.

The 25-year-old Larrazabal began the day tied for the lead with Lynn but managed to forge ahead on the front nine.

Larrazabal made four birdies in the first eight holes to claim the outright lead. His only dropped shot of the day came at the 16th but he made amends immediately with a birdie at the 17th to finish with a round of 67.

The Spaniard had to qualify just to get in to the tournament and is hoping to secure his first European Tour win tomorrow.

Larrazabal is excited to be leading such established stars as Montgomerie and Westwood and is looking forward to defending his lead during the final round.

He said: "I saw the names Monty and Westwood - I love to shoot lower than those. If I play like I did today it's going to be fun. I hit the ball great."

Montgomerie kept himself in contention with a round of three-under, but it could have been much better for the Scot.

Having made three birdies on the front nine and two more at the tenth and 14th respectively, Montgomerie then bogeyed the 15th and 16th to drop back down the leaderboard.

Meanwhile, Westwood, who started with three birdies over the first four holes, could only finish on two-under for the day.