GOLF: Thongchai Jaidee attributed his good putting as the primary reason he shot a five-under-par 67 at the Enjoy Jakarta Indonesian Open, which gave him a one-shot lead heading into the final round at New Kuta Golf Club.

The 39-year-old made an impressive start to the third day with five birdies on the front nine. He dropped a shot at the 16th but rolled in his sixth birdie of the round on the 18th to finish the day on nine under, a stroke ahead of Alexander Noren of Sweden, who enjoyed a bogey-free 66.

"My irons were good and consistent except for one hole. But the key was my putting, which was good," said Thongchai, a 10-time winner on the Asian Tour.

Scott Drummond briefly held the lead after Thongchai's troubles on the 16th but the Scot bogeyed his last two holes for a 69 which dropped him into a tie for third on seven under with Jeppe Huldahl of Denmark (70) and the English quartet of Ross McGowan (69), Richard Bland (66), Simon Dyson (70) and Simon Griffiths (69).

Overnight leader Steve Webster carded a level-par 72 to join India's Jyoti Randhawa (66) and Jamie Donaldson of Wales on six under in the €1million tournament, which is sanctioned by the European and Asian Tours.

Gary Murphy was tied 19th on three-under after his third round 71, while Michael Hoey was four shots back on one-over after a 73.

Thongchai, who returned to action this week after missing the Johnnie Walker Classic because of illness, began his round on four under but took advantage of benign conditions on the front nine to go out in 31.

He rolled home a 12-footer on the second and reeled off consecutive birdies from the fourth to sixth before making another on the ninth to make the turn on nine under, two shots clear of the rest of the field.

He maintained his advantage by parring the first five holes on the blustery back nine but his luck finally ran out when his approach shot on the 16th rolled off the green and he missed his par putt from eight feet.

However, the Thai recovered to roll home a 14-foot birdie on the last to move back into the lead.

After his early rush of birdies, Thongchai was relieved to survive the back nine with little damage.

"The pin positions were tough and the wind was strong on the back nine," he said.

"If you make the fairway, it's easy to get on the green but the greens are also very tricky this week. If you hit it more than three feet, it's quite tough and difficult to read the line.

"On the 18th, I read the line well. It was a nice finish and I enjoyed it. I will use the same game plan tomorrow - fairway, green and putt. I hit 16 greens today."

Despite nursing a wrist problem, Noren powered his way up the leaderboard after a flawless 66 which included four birdies on the front nine and two on the way in.

"I had a lot of chances, and made my fair share on the front nine, but I left a few out there. That's always the case but it's still one of my best rounds of golf, especially from tee to green," said the 26-year-old, who is chasing his first European Tour win.

"My wrist was hurting yesterday, which is why I've got it strapped up. It's been troubling me on and off for quite a few weeks now, but never when I'm actually playing.

"It hurt yesterday though, so I was actually pretty happy with a 73. Today, I wasn't even sure if I would play or not but that's the way it always seems to be. When you're not focusing on your golf and you don't have any expectations, you just tend to go out there and play."

After narrowly missing out on his maiden European Tour win at last week's Johnnie Walker Classic, McGowan is back in contention again after holing birdies on his final two holes to close to within two shots of the lead.

"It was looking a bit dodgy when I was two over through nine. I missed a few putts, but a 10-footer on the 10th got me going, and another birdie on the 11th got me back to level par," said McGowan.

"Then I closed with a couple more, and all of a sudden I'm in the mix. It's the perfect place to strike from, as Danny Lee proved last week.

"Hopefully it's my turn this week."

Collated third round scores & totals in the European Tour Enjoy Jakarta Indonesia Open, New Kuta GC, Bali, Indonesia

(Gbr & Irl unless stated, par 72):

207Thongchai Jaidee (Tha) 71 69 67

208Alexander Noren (Swe) 69 73 66

209Richard Bland 72 71 66, Jeppe Huldahl (Den) 73 66 70, Scott Drummond 71 69 69, Simon Dyson 68 71 70, Simon Griffiths 70 70 69, Ross McGowan 69 71 69

210Steve Webster 69 69 72, Jamie Donaldson 68 71 71, Jyoti Randhawa (Ind) 74 70 66

211Anthony Kang (USA) 70 71 70

212Gary Lockerbie 71 72 69, Wei Chih Lu (Tha) 71 70 71, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 69 72 71, Jason Knutzon (USA) 72 70 70, Marcus Fraser (Aus) 69 73 70, Simon Khan 68 76 68

213Frankie Minoza (Phi) 74 69 70, Gary Murphy 70 72 71, Tony Carolan (Aus) 68 74 71, Ted Oh (Kor) 73 67 73, Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 70 72 71, Chinarat Phadungsil (Tha) 70 71 72, Angelo Que (Phi) 64 76 73, James Kamte (Rsa) 72 71 70, Gavin Flint (Aus) 70 72 71

214Bryan Saltus (USA) 70 72 72, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 72 68 74, Darren Beck (Aus) 71 71 72, Lian-Wei Zhang (Chn) 69 74 71, Pelle Edberg (Swe) 74 71 69, Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 71 74 69, Daniel Chopra (Swe) 73 71 70, Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spa) 71 72 71, Sam Little 73 70 71, Rory Hie (Ina) 70 72 72

215Seung-yul Noh (Kor) 69 76 70, Zaw Moe (Kor) 73 71 71, Neven Basic (Aus) 75 70 70, Andrew Coltart 73 71 71, Ignacio Garrido (Spa) 70 71 74, Rhys Davies 69 73 73, Kyung-Tae Kim (Kor) 73 68 74

216Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 68 73 75, Richie Ramsay 68 76 72, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 74 71 71, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 68 75 73, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 71 71 74, Mark Foster 72 71 73

217Danny Willett 70 74 73, John Bickerton 71 74 72, Seve Benson 70 73 74, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 74 71 72, Oliver Fisher 71 74 72, Brett Rumford (Aus) 70 73 74, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut) 72 73 72, Miles Tunnicliff 69 71 77, Michael Hoey 71 73 73

218Joakim Haeggman (Swe) 71 74 73, Markus Brier (Aut) 71 74 73, Wade Ormsby (Aus) 74 71 73

219Magnus A Carlsson (Swe) 71 74 74, Alessandro Tadini (Ita) 74 71 74

220Taco Remkes (Ned) 70 73 77, Scott Strange (Aus) 73 71 76, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (Ind) 70 73 77

222Marcel Siem (Ger) 76 68 78

224Jean Van de Velde (Fra) 71 72 81