Hansen invades Montgomerie's territory

Volvo PGA: Unsung Dane extends his stunning quality streak to upstage Europe's leading man on his favourite turf

It will take something now for today's final round of the Volvo PGA Championship to recapture the drama of last Monday's conclusion to the Deutsche Bank-SAP Open. Blame the swapping around of the bank holidays. The European Tour's flagship event is not usually a proving ground for a newcomer to win his maiden title but Anders Hansen will deserve the first prize of £333,330 if he holds on to his five-stroke lead today.

Not just the large financial incentive but the enduring quality of the West Course often ensures an experienced campaigner takes the title. Once Colin Montgomerie had stopped the likes of Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, Jose Maria Olazabal and Ian Woosnam winning the thing it did not look as if he would ever let anyone else triumph.

But his run came to an end at three last year when Andrew Oldcorn won. Having lost only to Tiger Woods at the third extra hole in Germany Montgomerie arrived here back in prime form but suffering from four prolapsed discs in his back. A first round of 64 gave him the perfect start but a poor finish to his second round, when he hit a spectator on the head with a drive at the 16th, quickly stopped the momentum.

A St John's Ambulance buggy followed the Montgomerie pairing around yesterday but was not required. Monty looked in pain for much of the round but more from his game than his back. A birdie two at the short second was encouraging but he then dropped three shots in five holes. He picked up two of those after the turn but failed to birdie either of the par-five finishing holes and returned a 72 to be nine under and trailing by eight strokes.

After Eduardo Romero finished with an eagle to move to 10 under, Montgomerie shared fourth place with Mark McNulty and Faldo, who scored a 68, coming home in 32 a day after he had covered the inward half in 31. No two players know this course better than Monty and Faldo but whether they can make any impression on the final group, Hansen and Spain's Carlos Rodiles, remains to be seen.

Conditions were again blustery yesterday, with the wind gusting through the pines. Most struggled on the front nine, except Hansen. It was an impressive piece of front-running from the Dane, who appeared little bothered by what was happening behind him, which was not a lot.

By the time the 31-year-old had made his third birdie of the day at the sixth, following his only dropped shot of the day at the previous hole, he was six ahead. He then birdied the eighth from five feet and the short 10th, when he went seven ahead. He added two more birdies at the 12th and the 17th and after his 65 on Friday his 66 yesterday, to be 17 under, was the lowest round of the day again.

Before this season Hansen's best finish was fourth place but at the start of the month he finished third in the French Open. This is his fourth full season on tour. Thomas Bjorn has been Denmark's most significant player but Steen Tinning has also won and his cousin, Iben, won the last two events on the women's circuit.

It was Rodiles who stopped Hansen from collecting an even bigger lead. The 27-year-old from Malaga, who refined his game at college in Florida, looked nervous to begin with playing with Montgomerie in front of a large gallery. He dropped two shots in the first six holes but then made six birdies from there on, including at the last two holes, for a 68 to be 12 under.

Montgomerie was determined to play despite his bad back because a victory would reconfirm him as the dominant player on the European Tour. Since his seven-year reign as the No 1 came to an end, no one has established himself as the "man to beat", a status Monty revels in.

Lee Westwood missed his third successive cut here. Padraig Harrington also failed to qualify for the weekend. Darren Clarke perked up with a 69 yesterday but Jose Maria Olazabal slipped to a 75. This is not a good moment for Ollie to lose the tremendous form he showed early in the year. Though the US Open is not normally his thing, the improved driving that helped him to win in the US in February should stand him in good stead next month.

Olazabal is splitting his time between the US and European Tours and agonised about whether to play here or at Jack Nicklaus's Memorial Tournament. The Bear is a hard man to turn down and Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh did not want to disappoint. Ollie wanted to support Volvo, who have supported not just this event for 15 years but a number of others, and the Order of Merit.

"The tours should get together so players can play in the biggest events on both circuits," Olazabal said. In reality, Tim Finchem, the US Tour commissioner, is not that bothered about helping events in the rest of the world when his tournaments might then suffer. But it is only right that the leading players should all get to play – as they do at the Players' Championship – in events like the Memorial and the Volvo PGA.

If it is true that the PGA will retain a Sunday finish even when the traditional Whitsun bank holiday is restored next year then thought should be given to moving the date completely, if the Americans can be persuaded to negotiate. Then Woods might be put in the position of coming over to Europe for play in an historic tournament rather than just to satisfy the financial clout of Deutsche Bank.