KARACHI, Aug 23: Matloob Ahmad overcame two-stroke penalty to finish the third round as leader after carding a superb five under par 67 in the Chief of Naval Staff Open golf championship on Saturday.

Displaying fine game on back nine, Matloob scored seven birdies with a score of 29 at Karachi Golf Club fairways, but was penalized for grounding the club in the hazard at the seventh hole.

Defending champion Shabbir Iqbal moved menacingly into second spot with a score of four under par 68 which included five birdies.

Overnight leader Amjad Yousuf dropped to third position after he played two over par 74 aided by five birdies and four bogies and double bogey at third.

Imdad Hussain tried to climb up but the best he could do was to manage sixth place along with Shafiq Masih and Mohammad Akram, by playing par 72.

In amateur net category, Irfan Rashid led with a score of 72, while Vaqas Ahmad was the leader in gross event with 72.

Leading third round scores:

208 Matloob Ahmad

211 Shabbir Iqbal

212 Amjad Yousuf

216 Abdul Jabbar

217 Nadeem Hayat, Mohammad Tariq

218 Shafiq Masih, Imdad Hussain, Mohammad Akram

219 Javed Inayat

220 Noor Bukhsh, Mohammad Siddique, Irfan Mahmood

221 Naseer Khan, Taj Nabi, Ijaz Gul, Saleem Inayat

224 M. Nazir, Aurangzeb Khan, Ghulam Abbas, Hameed Baloch, Akhtar Ali.