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TA SHEE (Taiwan), Nov 24: Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez missed a par putt from just over a foot at the last to surrender the outright lead after the third round of the $1.5 million Asian Open Saturday.
Jimenez, who finished joint-third at this year’s British Open at Royal Lytham, had to settle for a two-under-par 70 and a 54-hole total of 209, level with Sweden’s Carl Petterson who carded a 69.
Another Swede, halfway leader Jarmo Sandelin, returned a 72 to share third spot on 210 with Frenchman Thomas Levet.
Twice Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal of Spain carded a 72 to move into a four-way tie for sixth on 212 while Fiji’s Vijay Singh, chasing his third victory of the year in Asia, was a further shot back after a 73.
Co-leader Jimenez, who partnered Sergio Garcia to a share of sixth place at last week’s World Cup in Japan, was not too unhappy with his three-putt at the 18th.
“I holed a nice putt on 16 for a birdie but, on 18, I don’t know what happened. Something went through my mind as I made my stroke. I didn’t misread it.
“It was a pity but I played well. On the front nine, there were no birdies and no bogeys. It was just very cool.”
The Asian Open, the penultimate tournament on the Asian PGA Tour, is a co-sanctioned event and also the first stop on the 2002 European Tour schedule.
Leading third round scores:
209 — Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain) 70, 69, 70; Carl Petterson (Sweden) 72, 68, 69.
210 — Thomas Levet (France) 71, 70, 69; Jarmo Sandelin (Sweden) 72, 66, 72.
211 — Brian Davis (Britain) 72, 70, 69; Stephen Dodd (Britain) 72, 69, 70.
212 — Barry Lane (Britain) 70, 73, 69; Charlie Wi (South Korea) 76, 68, 68; Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain) 70, 70, 72; Thongchai Jaidee (Thailand) 74, 70, 68.
213 — Vijay Singh (Fiji) 71, 69, 73; Jamie Spence (Britain) 69, 72, 72.
214 — Unho Park (Australia) 71, 69, 73; Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark) 75, 68, 71.
215 — Wang Ter-chang (Taiwan) 73, 73, 69; James Kingston (South Africa) 76, 69, 70; Adrian Percey (Australia) 74, 70, 71; Rolf Muntz (Netherlands) 72, 70, 73; Stephen Scahill (New Zealand), Henrik Buhrmann (South Africa) 72, 75, 68.
216 — Philip Golding (Britain) 73, 73, 70; Michael Campbell (New Zealand) 72, 73, 71; Gary Evans (Britain) 70, 74, 72; Hsieh Yu-shu (Taiwan) 79, 70, 67.
217 — Craig Cowper (Britain) 77, 70, 70.
APPLEBY, LAYCOCK SHARE LEAD
GOLD COAST (Australia): Stuart Appleby shot a four-under-par 67 in difficult conditions to join Scott Laycock at the top of the Australian Open leaderboard after Saturday’s third round.
Appleby posted the best round of the day to climb from ninth place at halfway to tie for the lead heading into the final round at The Grand on Queensland’s Gold Coast.
Laycock, who led by a shot overnight, had an up-and-down round but eventually carded an even-par-71 to finish level with Appleby at seven-under-par 206.
South Africa’s Ernie Els, one of three players tied for second at the start of the day, dropped back to third place, three shots behind the leaders, after a 73.
Geoff Ogilvy slipped back to fourth after a 74 which could have been much worse. He shot 42 for the front nine to plummet down the leaderboard before recovering with a 32 on the back nine, including a run of birdie-eagle-birdie over the last three holes.
Joint first-round leader Rod Pampling also had a tough day, returning a 75 to finish the day five shots off the pace, but one of only five in the field under par for the tournament.
Appleby was one of the few players to hold his game together as the winds and hard greens combined to make low scoring a difficult proposition.
The Florida-based Australian has been highly critical of the Greg Norman-designed course but said he tried not to let it frustrate him.
Only 17 of the 60 players who made the cut managed to shoot par or better on Saturday with New Zealand’s Tony Christie enduring a dismal day, crashing to a 15-over-par 86.
He made four successive bogeys on the front nine and three more coming home, as well as a double bogey and a pair of triple bogeys.
Leading third round scores (Australian unless stated, a-denotes amateur):
206 — Stuart Appleby 69, 70, 67; Scott Laycock 69, 66, 71.
209 — Ernie Els (South Africa) 66, 70, 73.
210 — Geoff Ogilvy 71, 65, 74.
211 — Rod Pampling 66, 70, 75.
213 — Thomas Bjorn (Denmark) 76, 67, 70; a-James Nitties 74, 70, 69; Brett Rumford 73, 67, 73; Peter Lonard 68, 72, 73.
214 — Richard Lee (New Zealand) 73, 72, 69; Adam Scott 73, 70, 71; Greg Chalmers 71, 67, 76.
215 — Stephen Leaney 77, 69, 69; Martyn Roberts 74, 71, 70; Scott Gardiner 69, 75, 71; Marcus Cain 69, 69, 77.
216 — Charles Howell III (US) 75, 71, 70; Gavin Coles 74, 72, 70; Paul Gow 73, 72, 71; John Sutherland 72, 73, 71; Leigh McKechnie 72, 73, 71’ Richard Green 72, 73, 71; Craig Parry 72, 72, 72; Matthew Ecob 73, 70, 73; Grant Dodd 72, 65, 79.—Reuters
