Ford driver Markko Martin’s third place gave hima clear lead in the drivers’ championship.Scotsman Alister McRae was third in the production class, which was won by Manfred Stohl.. Peugeot’s Marcus Gronholm looked set to capitalise until his spin on stage 22 handed the initiative back to Solberg. It still represented the highest finish of his career so far, however.Meanwhile, England’s Justin Rose and Northern Ireland’s Darren Clarke were among a group of four golfers tied for ninth place at the Heritage in South Carolina after day three.Rose continued to power up the leaderboard after adding a five-under-par 66 to earlier scores of 73 and 69, but Clarke slipped back from fourth at halfway after a 71.Both were seven shots adrift of Ted Purdy at 12-under. “And I think this will open the door to the top 50 in the world.

That is my objective.”Raul Ballesteros, the 23-year-old nephew of Severiano, who had been joint leader after 37 holes, fell back to 33rd with closing scores of 74 and 75. He took four to get down from a couple of feet, prompting his astonished playing partner Gene Littler to say: “What the hell are you doing?”I’d have liked to hear that story again last weekend. Indeed, my only gripe with Alliss is not that he talks too much about the old days, but that he doesn’t do it more. And he has one priceless asset too often disregarded these days: a great broadcasting voice. I hope the old boy goes on for years.b.viner independent.co.uk. On the same course where he hopes to represent Argentina in the World Cup in November, Ricardo Gonzalez won the Seville Open yesterday – thanks to a 40-foot birdie putt at the 18th.

Alliss was a stupid, too, but in the excitement it was a forgivable mistake.The “self-consciously droll” patter that Terence loathes, I enjoy The reminiscing that Terence derides, I value. It was at the Masters in the 1960s, on the 11th green, that Alliss developed the yips. There are plenty of golf fans, too, who don’t care for Alliss, who must have howled derision when he goofed by not initially realising that Phil Mickelson had won.But miscalculations have always loomed large in golf. Again, to cite only the Masters, Roberto de Vicenzo failed to tie in 1968 simply because he got his sums wrong, signing for a 66 when he’d scored a 65 “What a stupid I am,” he famously remarked. Moreover, golf has a brilliant handicapping system which allows two people of vastly different ability to enjoy a level contest.