By MARK CANNIZZARO
Posted: 4:16 am
July 20, 2008
SOUTHPORT, England - The accidental tourist near the top of the British Open leaderboard entering today's final round is an English chap named Simon Wakefield.
Wakefield, who tied for the low round of the day in the treacherous winds at 70 and is 5-over par, trails leader Greg Norman by three shots and trails second-place Padraig Harrington and K.J. Choi by one shot.
The 34-year-old, who never has won on the European Tour, finds himself in the second-to-last pairing today. How does he feel about being in that position?
"Bizarre, to be honest," he said. "(Winning) is a long way off my mind at the moment. It's a world-class field. It's a fairytale situation, to be honest.
"I might not sleep a lot. It's obviously very unfamiliar territory for me this week. I've been leading going into a final round of a tournament before - the Johnnie Walker last year - and unfortunately lost in a playoff.
"So I'm familiar with the position, but not in a major championship, and certainly not the Open. I'm just going to try and relax. The crowd will be magnificent and I'm sure they'll carry me around."
He said his biggest career victory to date was something called the Dimension Data in Sun City, South Africa.
Though he never played Royal Birkdale before this week, he was at the 1991 and 1998 British Opens here as a spectator, watching Ian Baker-Finch and Mark O'Meara win.
