Too soon for Wakefield to ponder Birkdale fairytale

By Norman Dabell

SOUTHPORT (Reuters) - British Open rank outsider Simon Wakefield shrugged off any premature thought of becoming another shock winner of a major after soaring into contention in Saturday's third round at Royal Birkdale.

Briton Wakefield, who is yet to triumph on the European Tour, carded a level-par 70 in brutal gale-force winds for a five-over total of 215.

"The thought of me being Open champion in 25, 26 hours? Bizarre," Wakefield told reporters after ending a bruising day in fourth place, three strokes behind pacesetting Australian Greg Norman. "It's a long way off my mind at the moment.

"It's a world-class field here and I am not going to be thinking about it tonight. It's a fairy-tale situation."

The 34-year-old Englishman coped admirably with the whipping winds at Birkdale, picking up three birdies in the last seven holes to give himself a chance of unexpected major glory.

Wakefield belied his limited experience of Birkdale by outscoring playing partner Sergio Garcia, one of the tournament favourites, by four shots.

Before this week, he had visited the course just twice as a spectator in 1991 and in 1998, when he followed compatriot Justin Rose.

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