By IANS
Villamoura : Playing together in the same group for the first time on foreign soil, Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur carded identical rounds of two-under 70 each to move to nine-under 207 and tied in 30th place, a fall from their shared 19th place at the start of the third round of the European Tour event, inaugural Portugal Masters, at the Oceanico Victoria Clube de Golfe.
The similar cards Saturday meant the Indian duo will once again play together in the final round. “It is always fun to play with someone from your own country and catch up. Jeev has just come back from India and we were exchanging notes,” said Kapur. “But it would have been nice to have been a little higher on the leaderboard together.”
The 2006 UBS Asian Tour Order of Merit winner, Jeev agreed. “That was a relaxed round with both of us chatting on lot of things.”
Meanwhile, Argentina’s Daniel Vancsik (68) took a one shot lead into the final round of the inaugural Portugal Masters after another day of low scoring at Oceânico Victoria Clube de Golf. Vancsik was 18-under 198 for 54 holes and leading into the final round for the second week in a row.
Kapur had three birdies against one bogey on 14th, while Jeev had a bunch of birdies, as many as five, with three on front nine. But he also bogeyed three holes, including the 14th, which was also bogeyed by playing partner Kapur. Both birdied the 15th.
Kapur found more greens in regular at 14, but needed 29 putts, while Jeev had 12 greens in regulation but putted better with only 27.
Leader, Vancsik, 30, carded 68 to take the narrowest of leads over South Africa’s Charl Schwartzel and England’s Steve Webster, who posted 66 and 67 respectively for 199.
Vancsik leads into the final round for the second week in a row. But last week at the Open de Madrid Valle Romano he shot a quintuple bogey on the front nine and ended his hopes.
Schwartzel is chasing his second win of the year after capturing the Open de España in April. On Saturday, he pitched in from 144 yards for an eagle three on the 17th during his round of 66.
Justin Rose improved his chances of winning the Order of Merit with a 66 to climb to 11 under and joint 18th. The 27-year-old needs to finish first or second to go top of the money list with one more event to come.