16 July 2011 09:45 GMT

There are just two tiny flashes of red on the scoreboards so far this morning as the first eight groups set out for their third rounds. The wind speed is increasing rapidly and only KJ Choi of Korea and Floris De Vries of the Netherlands have so far dipped below par, both with birdies at the second.

Two holes later Choi double-bogeyed the fourth and dropped another shot at the fifth. De Vries gave back his hard-earned birdie when he failed to make par at the short third, but he maintains his position at three over for the moment.

No player on the course has improved on his overnight score and experienced bad weather player Paul Lawrie, The Open Champion of 1999 at a wild and wet Carnoustie, is finding conditions hard to handle. After two opening pars he dropped a shot at the short third and found real trouble at the 496-yard fourth which is being played as a par four this year. He walked off to the next tee with a seven on his card and immediately lost another shot at the fifth.