The Englishman matched Delamontagne’s fifth round 69 over the Old Course at San Roque to tie the Frenchman at the top of the leaderboard on nine under par 351, giving both players a four shot advantage over Sweden’s Peter Gustafsson. Wakefield and Delamontagne, playing together for the third consecutive day, applied completely different approaches to compiling their identical fifth round scores. Wakefield, who finished 118th on the final 2004 Volvo Order of Merit to miss out on retaining his Card by just two places, went about his business in the most consistent of fashions with three birdies and 15 pars, while Delamontagne had a roller coaster round that included seven birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey. “I believe we are being led down a specific path in our lives, and although I don’t want to go into it too much, this has happened for a reason. If I had finished 116th I wouldn’t have gone to Hong Kong and China and Jo-burg but I am going to those places now and the way I am playing at the moment there is a good chance that I am going to do well and, hopefully, win one. That maybe the path that I have been led down. Things happen for a reason - I believe in faith. “I had never really though about it until recently, in fact until I got married. I believe there is one person for everyone etc, but I just felt that this was the path I was supposed to go down. I was supposed to come here and it will make me a better player and towards the end of next year it will make me a better player because I won’t want to go through this rigmarole again. “I am now thinking about winning here but I am not going to get ahead of myself. I am playing with Francois again and we have had three fantastic days. It has been a battle for the last five rounds between us so hopefully it can come down to the last few holes tomorrow.” He said: “It’s the perfect position to be in and I also have another round with Mr Wakefield so what could be better! I played pretty good today, I was just a little bit unlucky with the double bogey but another good round like this tomorrow and I will have a chance of winning. “I think that Simon and I both have the game to be on The European Tour. It is no surprise to me to see Simon on the leaderboard this week. I am not surprised to see myself there either because I finished the season well. “There is no pressure on me now, so I will try and enjoy the round tomorrow and try to finish in the top three. It would be great to win because you are then number one in Category 11 for the first part of the season which gives you the best chance of getting into more events, but I think that if I can finish in the top three tomorrow I will be very happy.” While the two leaders can happily contest the Number One Spot, there will be intense pressure further down the leaderboard with 25 players within four shots of the current qualifying mark of six over par. With ten players on six over, and a further 11 just one shot better on five over, there is sure to be joy and heartache in equal measure as the top 35 players (and ties) are decided at San Roque Club. The Golfing Gods are sure to be watching. Courtesy of www.europeantour.com | |||||||