Golf: Ryder or bust for cup rivals

One more round of this birdiefest, otherwise known as the BMW International, remains before the Ryder Cup team is finalised with the announcement of Seve Ballesteros's two wild cards later today. Events in the third round in Eichenreid continued to prove that anything is still possible given a course that sells itself so cheaply.

A couple of pars is all that is required for a player to find several opponents charging past. Yesterday, the charger was Robert Karlsson, whose 64 gave him at 18 under par, a one-shot lead over Colin Montgomerie, Carl Watts and Fabrice Tarnaud. The man who lost ground by standing still was Padraig Harrington, whose 71 dropped him from the overnight lead to eighth place.

"I'll go for everything tomorrow," said the Irishman, who celebrates his 26th birthday today. "I've got nothing to lose and I'll need a 64 or 65. Today was exactly the reverse of yesterday. I played better but did not feel as comfortable on the greens." Harrington needs to finish in the top five to pass Miguel-Angel Martin, who is 10th on the Cup points list. Jose-Maria Olazabal needs to finish 20th or better, but despite a 67 he made little progress, moving from 57th to 40th.

Costantino Rocca, who is 12 under for his last 27 holes, and Thomas Bjorn should have secured their spots. But Paul Broadhurst, Mark James, Roger Chapman and Peter Baker still retain an outside interest. All have played well this week and it would be ironic if, after the dust settles today, the unlikely scenario comes about that Martin, whose wrist came out of plaster only last week, retains his position in the team.

The Spaniard would then be given a week to prove his fitness and Ballesteros may even attempt to delay his decision on the wild cards. In truth, if Olazabal does not qualify, he and Nick Faldo will receive the call-up.

The interest remains who, should Ollie get in, will join Faldo for Jesper Parnevik is not assured of the position. The Swede may have done well enough in America this year to have qualified for their team, but he has not a victory to his name. James, and possibly Baker or Broadhurst, will be listening to the announcement eagerly.

"I'm not sure I can get in anyway, so I'm just thinking about winning," Baker, who has been third and second in his last two events, said. "But I'm still breathing and I'll give it a rip tomorrow. There must be 25 guys who could still win tomorrow." The biggest obstacle could be Montgomerie, who scored a 67 and is here to boost his chances of winning a record fifth successive money list title. "Someone will shoot a 63 to win," he said. "It's anybody's tournament."

The Scot was attempting his sixth birdie of the day at the last when the strains of Richard Clayderman drifted across the green. Monty missed the putt and had to settle for a 67. "I wasn't a fan before, and I'm not now," he said. Such worries Karlsson, the 27-year-old Swede, is trying to put behind him with the stress-relieving treatment of body psychotherapy. "I'm trying to be more laid back but I'm not Ernie Els yet," he said.

For the second week running, Olazabal only made the cut on the qualifying mark and then shot a third-round 67. His five birdies came in the first 11 holes, but he also missed four good chances. His putting was better than on the previous day, but not by much. On Friday, in his level-par 72, Olazabal had 34 putts and yesterday it was 30. "If you shoot those scores with that number of putts, the rest of the game must be good," he said. "After the US PGA, my game has improved quite a bit."

One way or another Olazabal expects to be at Valderrama and will spend a couple of days this week at home playing 36 holes a day to assure himself, and his captain, that he is up to the job.