Brown paints course red

Taking the bridge across the water body that cuts the 13th fairway...

Taking the bridge across the water body that cuts the 13th fairway, Mark Brown and Gaganjeet Bhullar took a peek at the names forming on the leaderboard. Then they looked again.

Both were down in eighth place when the third round started at the Asian Tour SAIL Open today. Thus, their second glance, and the glint in the eyes at seeing themselves at the very top, was pardonable.

Bhullar, 10-under then and leading, dropped one on the long journey back to the clubhouse, and Brown, going to ten-under himself after the 13th, gained one more. On 11-under 205, and after a total jumble of the top names on the third day, the New Zealander heads the field going into the last round at the 400,000 event.

He is a shot ahead of Welshman Rhys Davies and Australian Scott Hend 8212; two others who came from behind as both overnight leaders fell.

For the middling bunch of followers, it was all hide and seek at the start. The sun kept moving in and out of the clouds; Jyoti Randhawa8217;s form seemed as erratic. The third day8217;s round was a roller-coaster ride for the Indian who, incredibly, finished just where he started.

The level-par 72 keeps the overnight co-leader on nine-under going into the last day, but two strokes behind the new name at the top of the leaderboard.

His partners, however, got thrown off 8212; both Tony Carolan and Wang Ter-chang have fallen back in their title-charge with over-par rounds.

Story continues below this ad

Trouble brewed at the second hole itself. Chipping from the rough, Randhawa duffed it badly. The two-putt on the par-five saved the par, but bad news was literally round the corner. Finding the bunker with the tee on the next 8212; the par-three third 8212; Randhawa8217;s chip sailed above the pin onto the other end of the green. Then the putts went off-line and the three tries translated to a double bogey.

Two birdies 8212; on the fifth and eighth 8212; were offset by two bogeys on the sixth and seventh, the putting to blame. And so, the turn was made at two-over before another whirlwind upward spree.

Having picked up a shot on the 10th, the Indian stirred up loud cheers in the amused crowd when he sunk an up-down 20-foot eagle on the par-five 12th. There was one more birdie and two more bogeys, and to cut the long story of the capricious putter short, he ended the day on 72.

Four groups ahead, Brown 8212; having begun the day on six-under 8212; was setting them up and sinking putts to perfection. He warmed up with a 30-footer on the second and a 12-foot one on the third and when he holed the one on the ninth, the round was surely headed north. Then for three holes 8212; 13th to 15th 8212; the minimum-mistake gameplan was put to action flawlessly, and the three birdies there pulled him to 12-under.

Story continues below this ad

The one error came when it had started seeming like nothing could go wrong. He missed the green on the par-three 17th and had to two-putt after the chip.

Bhullar had three birdies, an eagle and two bogeys for his three-under and is tied for fourth with Randhawa, Malaysian Danny Chia and Australia8217;s Adam Groom.

Leaderboard

205 8212; Mark Brown NZL; 206 8212; Rhys Davies WAL, Scott Hend AUS; 207 8212; Gaganjeet Bhullar IND, Danny Chia MAS, Adam Groom AUS, Jyoti Randhawa IND; 208 8212; Kane Webber AUS; 209 8212; Mardan Mamat SIN, Noh Seung-yul KOR, Wang Ter-chang TPE