Colin Montgomerie may have been carrying Scottish hopes once again in the British Open on Saturday, but the emergence of a new teenage hope had the crowds in a lather. Lloyd Saltman, a 19-year-old amateur from Edinburgh, shot a tremendous 68 in his third round to stand at four-under for the tournament.
That put him in pole position to win the Silver Medal awarded to the top amateur, a prestigious award which is presented on Sunday at the championship ceremony.
Saltman has opposition from three other amateurs - fellow Scot Eric Ramsay, good friend Edoardo Molinari of Italy and Matthew Richardson of England.
That was the first time that four amateurs had made the weekend since St Andrews in 1995, when one of those who qualified was a teenage Tiger Woods.
The Walker Cup selection said that he had been disappointed with his two opening rounds which had left him at level par, one inside the cut.
"Hopefully I can go even lower in the final round, but I'd take more of the same," he said.
Tiger Woods was poised to clamp a stranglehold on the British Open in Saturday's third round as he went for his 10th win in a Major.
The American took a four-stroke lead at the halfway stage and on the five previous occasions he has been in that position in a Major he has gone on to win.
Woods was in cruise control in Friday's second round shooting a five-under 67 to go with his opening 66 on a day when Jack Nicklaus stole the show despite missing the cut in his last tournament as a professional.
Five years ago when Woods won his only British Open title to date here, he was three clear of the field and went on to win by a record eight strokes.
This time the gap is four over nearest challenger Scotland's Colin Montgomerie with seven players lined up a further stroke back including world No 2 Vijay Singh, former Masters winner Jose Maria Olazabal, qualifier Brad Faxon and Australian links specialist Peter Lonard.
Spain's Sergio Garcia was at five-under, six strokes back and former winners John Daly, Nick Faldo and Greg Norman also made the weekend cut, but with no realistic hope of closing the gap on Woods.
Despite his dominating lead, Woods was taking nothing for granted.
Asked if he expected to coast to victory as he did in 2000, Woods refused to be drawn.
"I still have to go out and put up a quality round tomorrow," he said after his second round.
"There are still some good names up on that board, but still I have to take care of my own business and that's a lot out there on this golf course. There are a lot of things that can happen."
His final pairing with home hero Colin Montgomerie (teeing off at 1405 GMT) was a dream match for the tournament after the big Scot, still in search of his maiden win in a Major, shot an emotional six-under 66 on Friday to propell himself up the leaderboard.
The pressure will all be on the former European No 1 and he admitted that he faces a tough assignment.
"It's not going to be fun, because everyone says it's fun when Tiger goes and then they shoot 80," he said.
"This isn't fun, this is a Major championship, this is a job of work and it's business, very much business."
His main hope, he added, would be if Woods stutters "and stuttering is a couple of under for Tiger."
"I just happen to be the leader of a very strong pack and one of that pack is going to shoot low on Saturday.
"Then Sunday, a couple of bounces here and there, you never know what might happen."
One thing for certain was that there would be no repeat of two years ago when Woods' hopes were blown away on the Saturday at Muirfield by a sudden storm that hit him at the start of his round.
Playing conditions at St Andrews were perfect Saturday morning and were forecast to remain that way for the rest of the day.
Early third round scores: (a - denotes amateur) (7279 yards - Par 72) (30 out of 80 golfers have completed their third rounds)
210 - Soren Hansen (DEN) 72-72-66, Maarten Lafeber (NED) 73-70-67 212 - Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 71-74-67, Lloyd Saltman (SCO -a) 73-71-68 213 - Tim Herron (USA) 73-72-68, Nicholas Flanagan (AUS) 73-71-69, Mark Hensby (AUS) 67-77-69 214 - David Smail (NZL) 73-72-69, Scott Drummond (SCO) 74-71-69, Tadahiro Takayama (JPN) 72-72-70, Tom Lehman (USA) 75-69-70, KJ Choi (KOR) 75-68-71.
215 - Tom Watson (USA) 75-70-70, Peter Hanson (SWE) 72-72-71, Chris DiMarco (USA) 75-69-71.
216 - Rod Pampling (AUS) 74-71-71, John Bickerton (ENG) 75-70-71, SK Ho (KOR) 73-71-72, Steve Flesch (USA) 74-70-72, Mark Calcavecchia (USA) 70-73-73.
217 - Joe Ogilvie (USA) 74-70-73.
218 - Paul McGinley (IRL) 70-75-73, Paul Lawrie (SCO) 72-71-75.
219 - Justin Leonard (USA) 73-71-75, Robert Rock (ENG) 73-71-75.
220 - Scott Gutschewski (USA) 76-69-75.
221 - Patrik Sjoland (SWE) 74-71-76, Matthew Richardson (ENG -a), Ted Purdy (USA).
225 - Graeme Storm (ENG) 75-70-80.
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