Open Championship Notebook: Tough day for Kendall

Plus, the Royal Troon rough does damage to Davis Love, Retief Goosen can join an exclusive club, something is missing from Mark Calcavecchia's scorecard, Lee Westwood is looking for consistency, while Ian Poulter wants somebody to buy his pants and all Darren Clarke can do is laugh.

TROON, Scotland -- Skip Kendall slept in and still had to wait more than four hours for his tee time Saturday in The Open Championship. Once he got started, it didn't take long for him to lose the lead.

Kendall bogeyed the first hole, fell one shot behind on the next hole and finally ended the third round with a 4-over 75 that dropped him five shots out of the lead.

''A combination of I didn't hit it quite as well, didn't have quite as many opportunities,'' Kendall said. ''What opportunities I did have, I didn't take advantage by making any putts.''

Kendall was a surprising leader after a 66 in the second round gave him a one-shot lead and a 3:30 p.m. tee time. He stayed up late watching movies, slept in until 11 a.m. and watched another movie.

''Probably the hardest thing is waiting until 3:30 to play,'' he said. ''That's a long time.''

His round started poorly with a ball that kicked left into the rough, leading to a bogey. Kendall made several good par saves, but those were the only putts he made. His round got away from him with bogeys on the 12th and 13th, and missing the green on the par-3 17th for his fourth bogey.

''I felt pretty good out there,'' Kendall said. ''Nothing happened. Kind of unfortunate.''

He's not about to give up yet.

''I just hope I'll have a round like one of the first two days,'' he said. ''Not like today.''

WESTWOOD SEEKING CONSISTENCY: Lee Westwood played one of the best rounds of the day on Saturday, then admitted his form was not yet consistent enough for him to start winning tournaments again. The 31-year-old Englishman carded a 3-under-par 68 to stand on 2-under 211, six shots off the pace at Royal Troon.

After plummeting from No. 4 in the world to outside the top 250 in the world rankings, he has recently returned to form, finishing second in the Smurfit European Open two weeks ago and 10th in last week's Barclays Scottish Open.

"I have played well the last three weeks and the signs were there that I was going to play well this week," he said Saturday. "I have played links golf well recently and I am not surprised to be a couple under par.

"The signs are there that I am on the way back. The consistency needs to come before the win comes," he added. "But if I keep putting myself in the position and giving myself chances, then sooner or later I'll make that step forward and hopefully win a tournament.

Westwood praised the course and said that, depending on Sunday's conditions, a total score of 5-under 279 might be enough to win the Claret Jug.

LOVE HURTS: Davis Love III got off to a terrific start Saturday, making a 6-foot birdie on the first, chipping in from 35 feet on the second and holing an 8-foot birdie on the fourth to get within three shots of the lead.

He had a chance to get even closer on the par-5 sixth, but it all went wrong with one bad lie.

In the clumpy rough right of the fairway, Love's club got hung up in the thick grass and he shanked it. The ball took off on a 45-degree angle into a huge gorse bush. When he realized where it was, Love gave up and went back to his original spot. Even when four fans climbed into the prickly bush and found it, Love told them not to worry.

He took his two-shot penalty, scrambled for double-bogey and didn't make another birdie until the 18th for a 71. Love was at 1-under 212.

FASHION UPDATE: Ian Poulter is brash when it comes to his clothing, and his golf.

The Englishman who wore Union Jack trousers in the opening round went with something only slightly more subtle Saturday -- pink shoes, pink knee-high socks, black trousers and a pink cap.

More people are talking about his apparel than his game, but Poulter doesn't mind.

''My golf game definitely backs up what I wear on the golf course,'' he said after a 71, which left him at 1-over 214. ''I'm not fazed by people's comments.''

Poulter, 28, has three victories on the European Tour.

''As long as I keep playing like this in these tournament, my time will come,'' he said.

He said he most likely would auction his clothes from the Open and give the money to charity. His son had a high fever last week and was hospitalized for two days at York Hill in Glasgow.

''They got him back fit and healthy,'' Poulter said. ''I'll make a donation to them from the proceeds of the trousers.''

CLARKE HAS CAUSE FOR CHUCKLE: Seven years after a shank effectively ended his hopes of winning the 1997 Open at Royal Troon, Darren Clarke had another on the course Saturday -- but this one had him laughing.

Clarke's chip to the third went almost sideways, and shocked not only him but also playing partner Gary Emerson. And when they looked at each other, they just had to joke about it.

The Ulsterman bogeyed the hole to drop back to level par, which did at least mean it was not as damaging as the one off the second tee in the final round in 1997. He was lying second to Jesper Parnevik at the time and could never recover from going out of bounds onto the beach and running up a triple-bogey 7.

Clarke also had a shank in the second round of the Scottish Open last week. It was with a 5-iron at a par 3, and the resulting double-bogey led to him missing the cut.

WILSON PAYS FOR POOR BACK NINE: Scotland's Stuart Wilson, the only amateur to make the halfway cut at Royal Troon, managed only a third-round 77. The British champion, a former assistant professional at Blairgowrie, will go into the final day -- his 27th birthday -- on 7-over 220.

Paired with Lee Westwood, he covered the first eight holes in level par Saturday, but bogeyed the next five and had another on the 15th.

Just ahead of him, former Open champion Sandy Lyle was having an even worse time, crashing to a 10-over 81 to go to 11-over after an inward half of 44 that contained double-bogeys at the 10th and 15th and five bogeys.

FORGET THAT FINISH: Barry Lane faced the difficult task of forgetting his Open Championship finish Saturday that undid so much of his good work.

The 44-year-old from England had just climbed into a share of top spot with Todd Hamilton when he double-bogeyed the 17th and bogeyed the last. Now he will go into the closing round in sixth place with those three shots to make up again.

"It's obviously disappointing," said the former Ryder Cup player who in May had his first tournament win in 10 years at the British Masters. "In the second round, I finished 2-3. This time it was 5-5 -- a five-shot difference. I struck the ball beautifully, so I'll just forget about those last two holes.

"At 17, I just pulled it," he explained. "I didn't actually see, but it must have pitched on the bank and gone left. I had a very tough chip just to get on the green and it went over it. End of story.

"Then at the last, I just pulled a 6-iron a bit into the bunker," he added. "But I would have taken level par at the start.

"The crowd has been unbelievable," Lane said. "You get clapped on every tee, cheered onto every green. Everyone is shouting your name. A couple of guys had had a few beers and they were singing 'Barry Lane' (to the tune of the Beatles song 'Penny Lane') on the way round.

"The atmosphere is fantastic and you have to try and enjoy it," he said. "It's difficult because you're out there trying very hard, but it's a fantastic tournament."

AN EXCLUSIVE CLUB AWAITS GOOSEN: Retief Goosen will join an exclusive club if he can claim his third major title on Sunday. He would become only the sixth player to win the U.S. Open and Open Championship in the same year.

Only legendary figures Bobby Jones, Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen, Tom Watson and Tiger Woods have achieved the Open double, and Goosen is well placed to match them after a third-round 68 left him just two behind Hamilton.

"It doesn't matter how many majors you have won, it's never easy to deal with the last day," said the South African, who would also make it three wins in a row after his victories in the U.S. Open and the Smurfit European Open victory a fortnight ago. "You have to grind it out and tomorrow will be another tough day. I have to work on my game a little bit to see if I can sort out a few things.

"I scrambled very well on the back nine to keep my score alive today," he added. "Hopefully tomorrow I can putt for birdies instead of pars. On a course like this, the best names are going to come to the top and that's what is happening."

LEVET LOOKING FOR A FUN FINISH: Thomas Levet shrugged off losing the lead Saturday, and instead looked ahead to a "fun" final day.

"You have to appreciate the moment," said the Frenchman, who after being two in front after 10 holes of his third round finished two off the pace. "When you turn professional, the fun is being in the hunt for tournaments. If this is not fun, then what else is?

"I will try to shoot as low as I can. You need good play, a bit of luck and nerves at the end," he added. "But it's still possible that if you play your best, somebody will still beat you. But Muirfield two years ago showed me I can do it and I can play at this level."

Levet lost to Ernie Els only at the fifth hole of a playoff in that 1999 Open at Muirfield. But only last Sunday, he won the Scottish Open with a closing 63 -- a victory that put him into the Open. He would have been on holiday this week otherwise.

"The worst thing is to try to prepare your speech before getting the claret jug in your hands. I know how to win tournaments, but all I can do is try my best," he said. "At the moment I am the underdog. But maybe the underdog can come through."

ON THE MARK: Mark Calcavecchia had an unusual 69 in the third round that didn't put him into contention, but gave him a chance for his third straight top-10 finish at Royal Troon.

Calcavecchia's birdies came on the three par 5s, and his lone bogey came at the Postage Stamp par-3 eighth hole.

''I didn't have a 5 on my card today, and that's hard to do at Royal Troon,'' he said. ''And I had a good time doing it.''

Calcavecchia won the 1989 Open at Royal Troon for his only major. He returned in 1997 and tied for 10th. He made the cut on the number Friday at 3-over 145, and finished Saturday at 1-over 214 and a tie for 23rd.

''I'm no threat to win the tournament,'' he said. ''I'd love to have a great round tomorrow and maybe squeak up there into the top 10 again. Historically, when I play a course well I usually play it well most of the time.''

MONEY MATTERS: Based on Friday's exchange rate, the purse at the Open (4 million pounds) translates to about $7.49 million, the largest of the four major championships. The winner will get $1,348,272.

Retief Goosen earned $1,125,000 for winning the U.S. Open, while Phil Mickelson got $1.17 million at the Masters.

The largest official payoff in golf is 1 million pounds (about $1.88 million) at the HSBC World Match Play Championship in England. The biggest on the PGA Tour is $1.44 million at the Players Championship.

DIVOTS: Sean Whiffin was alone in the first tee time, so he brought along David Andrews, the assistant pro at Royal Troon, as a marker. Whiffin shot a 71. ... Chris DiMarco's tough week of travel finally caught up to him. DiMarco had one flight canceled and another delayed, so he didn't arrive at Troon until Wednesday night. He opened with 71-71, but a 78 on Saturday knocked him out of the tournament. ... Sandy Lyle made three double-bogeys on the back nine and shot an 81. Ernie Els, Retief Goosen and Scott Verplank are the only players to break par all three days. ... Vijay Singh started the third round only three shots behind, but went bogey-double bogey-double bogey when he made the turn and shot 76 to fall nine shots behind.

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