Twelve months on from the shock victory by Ben Curtis at Sandwich, another little-known American leads the Open championship with 18 holes to go.
After a 68 in the third round at Royal Troon today, 38-year-old Todd Hamilton is eight under par and a stroke ahead of Ernie Els, the 2002 winner who has a chance tomorrow to end Tiger Woods' five-year reign as world number one.
Woods fought his way up from 17th into a tie for seventh with a 68 and is only four shots behind.
Colin Montgomerie bogied the 18th for the second day running - he was round in a battling, but ultimately disappointing 72.
Also involved in the race for the claret jug are the two players who fought it out for the United States Open last month, Retief Goosen and Phil Mickelson.
They are locked together in third place at six under along with France's Thomas Levet, with England's Barry Lane one further back.
Levet, who stretched Els to five holes of a play-off at Muirfield two years ago and was not even in this week's event until he shot a closing 63 to win the Scottish Open last Sunday, charged into a two-stroke lead over the front nine.
But then came a double bogey six at the 11th - he missed the green and three-putted - and a a bogey six on the long 16th, where he took two to get out of a greenside bunker.
Lane, the 44-year-old who had his first win for 10 years at the British Masters in May and is still only 128th in the world, burst into the spotlight with three birdies in four holes from the 12th.
He shared top spot with Hamilton as a result, but the former Ryder Cup player then double-bogeyed the short 17th, chipping right over the green, and dropped another at the last.
Last November Hamilton did not even have a US Tour card and had talked earlier of quitting the sport, but he then came through the qualifying school at the eighth attempt and in March he birdied the final two holes to win the Honda Classic in March.
Ireland's Darren Clarke is one over for the tournament, while Paul McGinley recorded a disappointing third round 75 to finish seven over par.
Clubhouse Scores:
205 T Hamilton 71 67 67
206 E Els 69 69 68
207 R Goosen 69 70 68, T Levet 66 70 71, P Mickelson 73 66 68
208 B Lane 69 68 71
209 S Verplank 69 70 70, T Woods 70 71 68
210 S Kendall 69 66 75, Colin Montgomerie 69 69 72, M Weir 71 68 71
211 K.J.Choi 68 69 74, N Price 71 71 69, L Westwood 72 71 68
212 M Campbell 67 71 74, K Felton 73 67 72, D Love III 72 69 71, S Micheel 70 72 70, K Perry 69 70 73
213 P Casey 66 77 70, J Leonard 70 72 71, M O'Meara 71 74 68
214 S Appleby 71 70 73, P Bradshaw 75 67 72, M Calcavecchia 72 73 69, S Cink 72 71 71, D Clarke 69 72 73, B Estes 73 72 69, G Evans 68 73 73, K Fukabori 73 71 70, J Haeggman 69 73 72, T Hiratsuka 70 74 70, T Immelman 69 74 71, T Kamiyama 70 73 71, H Mahan 74 69 71, A Oldcorn 73 70 71, R Pampling 72 68 74, I Poulter 71 72 71, V Singh 68 70 76, B Van Pelt 72 71 71
215 B Faxon 74 68 73, K Ferrie 68 74 73, S Flesch 75 70 70, J Randhawa 73 72 70, A Scott 73 68 74, T Van Der Walt 70 73 72
216 M Angel Jimenez 74 71 71, R Sabbatini 71 72 73, D Toms 71 71 74, S Whiffin 73 72 71
217 P Broadhurst 71 74 72, G Emerson 70 71 76, I Garrido 71 74 72, M Gronberg 70 74 73, C Howell 75 70 72, R Jacquelin 72 72 73, S Lowery 69 73 75, S Maruyama 71 72 74, B Tway 76 68 73
218 C Cevaer 70 74 74, J Kelly 75 70 73
219 R Beem 69 73 77, M Foster 71 72 76, J Kingston 73 72 74, C Pettersson 68 77 74
220 C DiMarco 71 71 78, M Erlandsson 73 70 77, P McGinley 69 76 75, M Olander 68 74 78, a-Stuart Wilson 68 75 77
221 A Forsyth 68 74 79, P Wesselingh 73 72 76
224 S Lyle 70 73 81
Filed by Barry McEneaney
