Baby still the priority for Fisher

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

TURNBERRY, Scotland (Reuters) - Ross Fisher kept alive his twin dream of winning a maiden major title and celebrating the birth of his first child by carding a level-par 70 in Saturday's third round at the British Open.

The 28-year-old Briton birdied two of the last three holes to finish at three-under 207, one stroke behind pacesetting American Tom Watson after a blustery day on Turnberry's Ailsa Course.

However, Fisher's wife Joanne was due to give birth to the couple's first child four days ago and he still intends to withdraw from the Open if she goes into labour.

"Like I said all along, if Jo does go into labour, I'll be supporting her 100 percent," the Englishman told reporters after ending the day level with Australian Mathew Goggin (69).

"I won't be here. I'll be with her because it's something I definitely don't want to miss. It will be a shame but we'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it."

Double European Tour winner Fisher, making his third Open appearance, has instructed his manager to alert him on the course as soon as his wife's situation changes.

"Hopefully, I can hang on for one more day and hopefully she can," he said. "Who knows?

"To win and then to get back home and see the birth of our first child would be a dream come true. But there's a long way to go."