There might be some logic here especially given that a seriously out-of-form Montgomerie has missed seven cuts in his last nine events, and that Harrington, who is most definitely not enamoured of the greens here, is still waiting for his season to ignite, but Els happens to live on Wentworth's estate, knows the place like the back of his hand and has recently masterminded a number of changes to the famous West Course.

So much then for local knowledge. The South African, currently at number six in the world rankings, had a respectable 69 yesterday; however, the European Tour's most prestigious title outside of the majors will continue to elude him for another year.

Peter Lawrie, who had his moment in the sun . . . or should that be rain and wind . . . when he had the clubhouse lead earlier in the week, held his index finger up to his temple with a wry smile when asked what was holding him back from a first professional victory.

But if Nick Dougherty goes on to win, it won't be for a lack of self-belief. After all, he has already foreseen an emphatic triumph over Luke Donald later today, while in most of his apparently frequent dreams, he is winning the British Open by a street.

Articulate, open and highly approachable, 24-year-old Dougherty is a protege of Nick Faldo, but thankfully the six-time major champion's influence extends more to ability and less to personality Back in 2000, Lee Westwood was the only English player in the world's top 100, whereas now Donald, Howell and Paul Casey represent a cresting new wave. Yet, in time, the highly-talented Dougherty could turn out to be the best of them all.

Pressed on whether he, like Dougherty, had ever dreamed his way to better golf, Howell could only remember one REM round in the company of Seve Ballesteros which bizarrely concluded when a soccer pitch got in the way.

If Howell is as laid-back as Dougherty is vibrant, he has been performing with even more confidence than his younger compatriot. While the rain teemed down once more, the strong winds of last Friday eased off and the players again took advantage of preferred lies, or placing, as most of us know it, or "lift, clean and cheat", as Tiger Woods and a few others call it.

Without replicating the brilliance of Friday which he regarded as the second-best round of his career, Howell was still out in front as yesterday's play neared its conclusion with the main challenge being thrown down by Miguel Angel Jimenez who equalled the leader's second round of 65 for an 11 under par total of 205.

A first victory in almost a year, and the first prize of just over 700,000, are likely to be beyond Harrington, but his 68 for a six-under par total of 210 has given him an opportunity to improve his Ryder Cup prospects. With second place worth 470,000 and third worth 266,000, another 68 or better will see him move up from the 13th place he current occupies in both qualifying lists. "I'm not really thinking about that, I wouldn't know how much first place is here, and I really don't know if a high finish would energise my season, " he said. "Winning would energise my season."

He did admit that picking up several cheques between now and the end of August might be the route he has to go to qualify, but at this stage, he wasn't thinking about whether Ian Woosnam would consider him as a wild card for the K Club.

"I wouldn't expect anything, I've got to look after my own job and the captain has enough problems with his two picks. I'm going to give it my best effort to qualify automatically."

Despite a two-stroke improvement in each round, and despite rolling in six birdie putts yesterday, Harrington still has his reservations about Wentworth's putting surfaces. "I really like the golf course now, they've made some great improvements, it's much fairer. It's a great test of golf all the way up to the greens, but it would be one of the best in the world if they finished the job off and revamped the greens."

Jean Van de Velde had his warm-up curtailed by sleeping it out and almost missing his tee time, but still managed to shoot a 66. Lawrie slipped to a 74, while Graeme McDowell also lost ground with a 73. Outside of those in contention, Andrew Coltart probably had the biggest smile on his face after his hole-in-one at the 10th where a five iron from 184 yards found the target.