Golf:Unheralded left-hander Adam Bland will carry a three-shot lead into the final round of the 2010 JBWere Masters after completing a one-under 70 in extreme conditions on Saturday at Victoria Golf Club in Melbourne.
At 11 under, the 31-year-old South Australian holds a double figure break on titleholder and pre-tournament favourite Tiger Woods who was unable to make any headway during the third round.
Bland's nearest rival Daniel Gaunt, one of a host of players in the field for whom Victoria is their 'home' club, got around in 68. At seven under, Gaunt leads Andre Stolz (72) by two shots and Jarrod Lyle (69) - the only player in the field apart from Bland to go sub-par on all three days - by three.
The field was forced to endure testing conditions with rain falling heavily and without respite from early afternoon on Saturday. More than 35mm of rain was dumped on the par-71 6297 metre layout overnight.
Bland, who started the day with a two-stroke buffer over Stolz, was briefly joined in the lead by his playing partner after two-shot swing at the eighth. He managed to reclaim the lead outright at the next, however, with a birdie to Stolz's par and kept his nose in front thereafter.
"It's always good to be in then lead and hopefully we can say it again tomorrow," said Bland. "It was tough today, it was just raining all day, windy and pretty miserable, but I just tried to stay happy and enjoy the day and I did enjoy it. It's the same plan again tomorrow.
"I am very proud of the way I've gone this week with scrambling up and down. With the conditions today and yesterday, it's all about scrambling. No-one is going to hit 15 or 16 greens and get them to ten feet all day, you have to scramble and I've scrambled the best so far this week."
Gaunt enjoyed a charmed run on the greens over the opening few holes. He made the save of the day by holing a putt from off the green at the second before sinking another huge par-saver at the fifth. The 31-year-old was able to capitalise in the run home with four birdies in his closing six holes.
Gaunt's playing partner Sergio Garcia is out of the running at two over after a disastrous 77, though fellow international Camillo Villegas fared better with a 70 that leaves him at two under.
Woods completed his front nine in 36, one over the card, and picked up just the one stroke coming back to finish square for the day. Not for the first time this week he grumbled about his inability to come to terms with the pace of the greens and agreed that everything needs to go right on Sunday if he's to successfully defend the title he won at Kingston Heath last year.
"I'm so far back I've got to play a great round and then I need help," said Woods. "The only thing I can control is hopefully going out there and putting a low one on the board. If I just make a few putts early tomorrow then hopefully I can get it going."
Woods was outplayed on the day by his playing partner, a 22-year-old contesting his first event as a professional.
Stuart Appleby (69) is in a tie for fifth with Ryan Haller, one shot clear of David McKenzie (68), Geoff Ogilvy (69), Pratt, Villegas, British amateur champion Lee Won Joon (71) and Anthony Brown (72).
Robert Allenby, who came into this tournament as the leading Australian hopeful and the second-favourite with the bookmakers churned out nine straight pars before slipping to plus five overall with a double bogey six at the 372-metre par-four 10th. But he managed to pick up strokes at 11, 14, 15, 17 and the last to get back to square with the card.
Collated third round scores & totals (Par 71)
202
Adam Bland (Aus) 65 67 70
205
Daniel Gaunt (Aus) 65 72 68
206
Andre Stolz (Aus) 67 67 72
208
Jarrod Lyle (Aus) 69 70 69
209
Ryan Haller (Aus) 71 72 66, Stuart Appleby (Aus) 71 69 69
211
Steve Jones (Aus) 71 72 68, David Mckenzie (Aus) 71 72 68, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus) 72 70 69, Kieran Pratt (Aus) 69 72 70, Camilo Villegas (Col) 71 70 70, Won Joon Lee (Aus) 69 71 71, Anthony Brown (Aus) 70 69 72
212
Paul Sheehan (Aus) 71 72 69, Kurt Barnes (Aus) 67 76 69, Aaron Townsend (Aus) 73 68 71, Tiger Woods (USA) 69 72 71
213
Par Robert Allenby (Aus) 73 72 68, Brad Kennedy (Aus) 68 75 70, Gareth Paddison (Nzl) 67 72 74, Peter O'malley (Aus) 69 70 74
214
Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) 73 70 71, Michael Hendry (Nzl) 68 73 73, David Bransdon (Aus) 69 71 74, Matthew Millar (Aus) 67 72 75
215
Steven Bowditch (Aus) 73 72 70, Doug Holloway (Nzl) 71 73 71, Michael Campbell (Nzl) 70 73 72, Peter Senior (Aus) 70 73 72, Ashley Hall (Aus) 71 69 75, Nathan Green (Aus) 68 71 76, Sergio Garcia (Spa) 73 65 77
216
Luke Hickmott (Aus) 69 75 72, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 72 72 72, Daniel Fox (Aus) 68 75 73 Jim Herman (USA) 69 73 74, Steve Collins (Aus) 67 75 74, Luke Bleumink (Aus) 67 74 75
217
Josh Younger (Aus) 74 70 73, Michael Sim (Aus) 73 71 73, Anthony Summers (Aus) 70 73 74, Craig Scott (Aus) 70 73 74, Adam Crawford (Aus) 71 72 74, Josh Carmichael (Nzl) 69 73 75, Michael Choi (Aus) 70 70 77
218
Brett Rumford (Aus) 72 72 74, Ben Wharton (Aus) 73 71 74, Craig Hasthorpe (Aus) 67 76 75, Martin Doyle (Aus) 71 71 76, Josh Geary (Nzl) 69 73 76, Greg Chalmers (Aus) 68 74 76, 52 219 Mitchell Brown (Aus) 68 77 74
220
Kim Felton (Aus) 72 73 75, Leigh Mckechnie (Aus) 71 74 75, Alistair Presnell (Aus) 65 80 75, Paul Gow (Aus) 73 72 75
221
Henry Epstein (Aus) 73 72 76, Ewan Porter (Aus) 69 76 76, Scott Laycock (Aus) 70 75 76, Scott Arnold (Aus) 69 75 77
222
Mahal Pearce (Nzl) 70 75 77
225
Nathan Uebergang (Aus) 71 74 80