Golf: Less than two weeks away from his defence of the US Open title Graeme McDowell suffered the potentially devastating shock of an 81 - the joint worst round of his entire European Tour career - at Celtic Manor on Saturday.
On the course where he was not only Europe's Ryder Cup hero last October, but also Wales Open champion five months earlier, the world number five crashed from one off the lead to an incredible 11 strokes adrift.
Swede Alex Noren still leads after a rollercoaster ride of a 71 in the windy conditions - compatriot Peter Hanson and Dane Anders Hansen are one behind, Hansen after a superlative 66 - but the story of the day was inevitably McDowell's tumble from second place overnight to 33rd.
And this less than a month since he collapsed from first to 33rd with a closing 79 at the Players Championship in Florida.
It could have been even more of a meltdown, though. He thought he might get a two-shot penalty for tapping down the ground as a chip came back to him on the 12th, but he escaped that because it was down in anger rather than with the intention to improve his lie.
"Obviously I'm very disappointed," he said. "I got off to a start where everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I just couldn't get anything going. It was the most crazy seven holes I've had in a long time - my head was spinning.
"I feel I got heavily punished for some mediocre golf, not disastrously bad golf. After the 11th (a bogey six on a reachable par five) I completely lost my patience and at 12 (a quadruple bogey eight) I just lost my head. That was me gone.
"I felt like I was in control of my game, but I very swiftly got out of control. I've made more double bogeys and triple bogeys this season than ever and I need to address that and understand why that is. It kind of broke my heart a little bit.
"Tomorrow I'll try to shoot 66-67, then lick my wounds and get ready for Congressional. But there are some mental areas that I've got to address."
McDowell's previous worst rounds on the European circuit were 81s at Valderrama in 2002 - his rookie season - and at Pinehurst in the 2005 US Open.
He was far from the only one to suffer - Darren Clarke shot 80, Thomas Levet and Stuart Manley 81, Paul Broadhurst and Jason Knutzon 84 - but he was certainly the most notable.
It was simply hard to believe at the venue where he finished 64-63 last May to turn a six-stroke deficit into a three-shot victory.
Television commentator Wayne Riley had only to witness a few holes to comment: "Welcome to the torture chamber".
Battling with a hook, the Northern Irishman was in two bunkers for an opening double bogey, dropped more shots at the second and fourth, then went from a rough into a ditch at the 433-yard fifth. He then hooked out of bounds on the short seventh for a third double bogey and after repairing some of the damage with birdies at the eighth and ninth came to grief again.
His second shot to the 11th with a fairway wood kicked into the water and after his six there his eight came when two chips from just off the next green rolled back to his feet and he then three-putted. At least he played the last six in one under, two-putting the par five last for birdie.
Noren looked as if he might tumble off the leaderboard as well when he three-putted the fourth and sixth and then took six at the long ninth after a wild drive led to a penalty drop. But the 28-year-old, winner of the European Masters in Switzerland two years ago, came back with three birdies in four holes from the 11th.
That enabled him to grab the lead back from Hansen, who from two over after three holes went crazy with six birdies and then a near-albatross at the downwind 575-yard last.
Needing only a seven-iron for his second shot he could not believe that it finished three inches behind the hole.
"I've never had albatross, but I'm happy with eagle," he said.
Hanson, who made his Ryder Cup debut at the course last year, started with two bogeys, but played the last 16 in five under to boost his chances of a fifth Tour win.
Welshman Jamie Donaldson is two behind in fourth place as he seeks not only to become the first home winner, but also grab his first Tour victory in well over 200 starts.
Collated third round scores & totals
(Gbr & Irl unless stated, Irish in bold, par 71)
205Alexander Noren (Swe) 67 67 71
206Peter Hanson (Swe) 65 72 69, Anders Hansen (Den) 70 70 66
207Jamie Donaldson 68 68 71
208Steve Webster 66 72 70, Victor Dubuisson (Fra) 67 69 72
209Johan Edfors (Swe) 68 71 70
210Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 70 69, Phillip Price 70 72 68, Gregory Bourdy (Fra) 67 73 70
211Ricardo Gonzalez (Arg) 71 67 73, Christian Cevaer (Fra) 69 72 70, Romain Wattel (Fra) 68 73 70, Richard Finch 69 75 67, Richard McEvoy 69 70 72, Graeme Storm 68 72 71, Pablo Larrazabal (Spa) 70 70 71, Oscar Floren (Swe) 69 73 69
212Joel Sjoholm (Swe) 72 69 71, Greig Hutcheon 72 72 68, Elliot Saltman 73 70 69
213 Damien McGrane 67 73 73, Mark Tullo (Chi) 69 71 73, Peter Whiteford 70 70 73, Keith Horne (Rsa) 64 73 76
214Felipe Aguilar (Chi) 68 73 73, Robert Coles 70 71 73, Fabrizio Zanotti (Par) 69 71 74, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 70 74 70, Barry Lane 68 69 77
215Richard Bland 69 75 71, Danny Lee (Nzl) 70 71 74
216 Graeme McDowell 67 68 81, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den) 71 72 73, Michael Jonzon (Swe) 70 74 72, Simon Dyson 72 70 74, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 72 72 72
217Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (Fra) 73 69 75, Marcel Siem (Ger) 69 73 75, Rhys Davies 72 71 74, Mark Brown (Nzl) 70 74 73, David Drysdale 71 71 75, David Dixon 73 70 74, Michael Hoey 71 71 75, Peter O'Malley (Aus) 71 70 76
218Anthony Kang (USA) 69 73 76, Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 68 75 75, Jaco Van Zyl (Rsa) 72 69 77, Mark Foster 69 74 75, Simon Khan 68 75 75, Jose Manuel Lara (Spa) 71 73 74
219Hennie Otto (Rsa) 72 72 75, Scott Strange (Aus) 69 75 75, Stuart Manley 67 71 81, Rafael Echenique (Arg) 70 73 76, Lorenzo Gagli (Ita) 72 71 76
221Soren Kjeldsen (Den) 72 71 78, Mikko Ilonen (Fin) 69 74 78, Kenneth Ferrie 72 72 77
222 Darren Clarke 68 74 80, Paul Broadhurst 66 72 84
223Andrew Dodt (Aus) 70 74 79, Jason Knutzon (USA) 74 65 84
225Thomas Levet (Fra) 72 72 81
WD: 144 Gregory Havret (Fra) 70 74
