The weather late in the day stopped the play before darkness leaving the mercurial Argentinean, Andres Romero needing to par the brutal final two holes at Oakland Hills for a 68 and a tie for the lead with the Swede Robert Karlsson and India's best player Jeev Milka Singh.
Romero could have won The Open at Carnoustie last year, perhaps he even should have won, but he made a mess of the two finishing holes. He is not however the first man to have the course of his career altered by the brick lined burns that wind their way randomly across the final two holes of the most difficult links in the world.
The best Argentineans are always fantastic players to watch and only last week Eduardo Romero (no relation) won the U.S Senior Open. Angel Cabrera, the American Open winner last year, and the two Romero's look like they play free of the inhibition of wondering how their techniques look through the lens of a video camera.
The greatest of their countrymen was the 1967 Open Champion Roberto de Vicenzo and he was one of the very few able to master the ability of making what is a complicated move look very simple and presumably he is still the model and the hero to all who have come behind.
Karlsson has applied all the analytical logic of a Swede to his game and he plays very well but there is nothing Argentinean about the way he plays. His swing is built to look perfect through the camera lens and tall men like Karlsson often need that because if they get long legs and arms flying in all directions they are day to day propositions. It has always been easier for men half a dozen inches under Karlsson's six feet and five inches to keep the club under control and it is to his credit that he has made his angular move work so efficiently.
The Indian Singh swings as tightly as the Fijian Singh swings loosely but he too has had a fine year in Europe and he is just another piece of evidence suggesting the game is truly developing all around the world.
Behind by one at 69 and alongside the American's Billy Mayfair, Ken Duke and Sean O'Hair is the Ryder Cup spot seeking Sergio Garcia. The Spaniard beat the best field in golf aside from the injured Tiger Woods at The Players Championship in May but even the biggest prize in golf has not guaranteed him a place in the European team for the September matches in Kentucky. The Captain, Nick Faldo, suggested early this week that Garcia was no certainty to get one of the available picks. It is hard, if not impossible to envisage a European team without its best player but a good week here will ensure sanity prevails.
The best Australian was Rod Pampling who holed a difficult downhill eight footer at the last for a par and a 70 which tied him with the desperate to do well in a major this year, Phil Mickelson. Aaron Baddeley, the only player to birdie the incredible difficult par three ninth, was 71 which equalled Richard Green, Brendan Jones and the 1995 winner Steve Elkington.
Elkington is proof, if it was ever needed, that a quality technique ensures longevity so long as