South African Ernie Els opened up a two-stroke lead after the third round of the Singapore Masters golf tournament at the Laguna National Golf and Country Club today.
Els fired a third-round two-under-par 70 to lead the $900,000 event on 10-under-par 206 from China's Zhang Lian-wei.
Zhang came in with a 69 and lies one ahead of Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng and Scotland's Simon Yates. Prayad shot 69 while Yates carded 72.
In-form Els was in cruise control for most of the round and led by five with a couple of holes to play. Surprisingly the three-time Major winner bogeyed the last two holes, giving him less of a cushion going into tomorrow's final round.
He pulled his five-iron tee shot left of the green on the par-three 17th and did not get up and down, and mis-clubbed his approach on the last, where he missed a five-footer for par.
"I didn't have the finish I wanted to, missing that putt on the 18th, and mis-clubbing wasn't the cleverist thing to do. I started with a one-shot lead, now I have a two-shot lead but it looked good for a while," said Els, who won last year's British Open.
Els has won the last three events he has played in, the Nedbank Challenge on home soil at the end of last year while two weeks ago he won the Mercedes Championship followed by the Sony Open, both played in Hawaii.
"Some of the other guys played really well coming in, so tomorrow will be a tough day. There are some guys really close to me so I have got to try and play the way I have been and hope for the best," added Els.
Yates stayed close to the lead by scoring birdies at the 15th, 16th, and 18th. He bogeyed the 17th but his haul of closing birdies put him in a good position. The Scot was paired with Els.
Defending champion Arjun Atwal of India slipped back with a 76 and is eight shots behind Els. Singapore's Lam Chih Bing continued to fly his country's flag with distinction and is five off the lead after firing a 72.
Ireland's Gary Murphy had a disastrous third day carding a nine-over 81 and dropped completely out of contention at three-over 219. The 30-year-old had started the day in a tie for fifth place.
The Singapore Masters is the second event on the Asian PGA Tour's 2002-2003 season and the fifth leg of the European Tour.
AFP