Evans storms into Open lead
Gary Evans has stormed into an outright lead in the Open championship at Muirfield.
Evans has fired eight birdies and one bogey in his opening 12 holes to move to six-under-par - one shot clear of overnight leader Ernie Els who has yet to start his final round.
The 33-year-old, without a tournament win in 274 events, bogeyed the opening hole, but he hit straight back with birdies on the second and third.
He picked up his third birdie of the day on the par-five fifth, followed shortly by his fourth at the next.
Another putt dropped from 15 feet on the seventh - and when yet another rolled in from eight feet on the eighth.
A wayward drive on the 508-yard ninth meant he was unable to reach the green in two, and his birdie putt from nine feet caught the edge of the hole and span out.
It was an outward nine of 31, and then holed an extraordinary 70-foot putt across the width of the 10th green.
And when a much shorter effort dropped in on the next as well, he was in the outright lead on his own before adding a par at the 12th.
Darren Clarke had briefly threatened to post an even better early target with three birdies in his first five holes but had to settle for a 69 to finish one over.
