Orr faces chase by fellow Scots

Colin Montgomerie will hope the role of pursuer suits him better than that of the pursued in today's final round of the Victor Chandler British Masters. Monty was three ahead a year ago only to lose to Bob May, but this time he must make up a two-stroke deficit on Gary Orr. "With my experience and the way I am hitting the ball, yes, I expect to win," Montgomerie said.

Colin Montgomerie will hope the role of pursuer suits him better than that of the pursued in today's final round of the Victor Chandler British Masters. Monty was three ahead a year ago only to lose to Bob May, but this time he must make up a two-stroke deficit on Gary Orr. "With my experience and the way I am hitting the ball, yes, I expect to win," Montgomerie said.

Orr, whose first victory on tour came six months ago at the Portuguese Open, could not, understandably, match the brilliance of the Duke's course record of 62 which he set on Friday. But a low runner with a four-iron at the 14th to two feet for one of five birdies was the equal of anything he produced the day before. Another remarkable birdie came at the par-five last when he drove into trees and had to chip back to the fairway before holing from eight feet for a four. A 68 took the 33-year-old to 197, 19 under par, but whether he has enough insurance to hold off his fellow Surrey-based Scot is debatable.

But for two bogeys late on the front nine, Montgomerie would be level. Ominously, he closed with four birdies in the last six holes for a 66. A Montgomerie win is somewhat overdue, his last coming back in May at the Volvo PGA. With the USPGA Championship at Valhalla coming up next week, a first victory at Woburn, where he has been third and second in his last two starts,would be the perfect tonic for the newly slim-line European No 1. "This is exactly what I wanted for next week," he said. "I'm glad I'm playing with Gary because I can put some pressure on."

The day's best round, in this week of low scoring, came from the recently dethroned Open champion, Paul Lawrie, with a 64. At 14 under par, he shares fourth place, one behind Mark McNulty. The Scot, who actually lives north of the border, described his putting at the Open as "horrific", which was why he missed the cut at St Andrews. In the two weeks since, Lawrie worked every day with his coach, Adam Hunter, and sports psychologist, Dr Richard Cox. And they decided that he was taking an age over his putts.

"Adam timed me and I was taking ten seconds over the ball, which is too long. There is too much time for bad thoughts. Now I'm back to four or five seconds and it has made a big difference. I've got the stroke flowing a bit more." Lawrie did not drop a stroke and made four birdies on each nine, holing from 20 feet at the 18th for the last of them. If it was a relief that his year's reign as "champion golfer" was over, Lawrie was not saying. "It's just nice to be in contention," he said. This is his best performance since finishing fourth in Dubai in March.

This week's subplot revolves around qualification for the NEC World Invitational in Ohio in a fortnight's time. The tournament is one of the World Golf Championships which started last year but the formula of inviting only Ryder and Presidents Cup players to a limited-field, no-cut event was flawed. That is beginning to be recognised and it is likely the tournament will be remodelled after 2002.

A complication this year is that the Tournament Committee of the European Tour, who represent the views of the rank and file, decided not to send last year's Ryder Cup team for a second bash - all the Americans at Brookline will automatically line up again - but instead to make everyone re-qualify. The top-12 Europeans on the order of merit tonight will earn a place in the tournament, but Jesper Parnevik and Sergio Garcia, two of the four Europeans in the top-13 of the world rankings, will be missing as they play most of their golf in the States. Lawrie will be another to miss out, unless he wins today.

Orr started the week in ninth place, so his efforts here have sealed his place. Paul McGinley, who was tenth, missed the cut and will probably miss out as Andrew Coltart, one place lower than the Irishman, is well up the leaderboard. Mathias Gronberg, the man on the bubble, began the event well with a 67 but his 74 yesterday dropped him back to five under, thus giving a glimmer of hope to Ian Woosnam, whose 67 vaulted the Welshman up to nine under. Lying just £400 adrift of the Swede, Woosie must keep ahead of Gronberg although Patrik Sjoland, 14th on the list, is also threatening at 12 under.