By IANS,
Versaille, France : It was an eminently forgettable day for at least two of three Indians left in the fray at the Open de France ALSTOM. Shiv Kapur, who set the course ablaze with a 63 in the second round, went for a five-over 76 and dropped to 43rd, while Jyoti Randhawa played a nightmarish 10-over 81 that put him right at the bottom in 68th place.
Jeev Milkha Singh, despite three bogeys – one of them on the 18th, hung in for one-under 70 and was tied 27th with one more round to go. Jeev began well with birdies on third and fourth but dropped a shot on eighth. He birdied 10th and 14th, but bogeyed 12th and 18th. He was one-under 212 for three rounds and 10 behind the leader Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal.
Kapur (76) unable to find a single birdie a day after finding nine in the second round, had two bogeys and a triple bogey to drop to tied 43rd after being eighth the previous day. Randhawa had three birdies on the back nine, but he also had four bogeys and a triple during a front nine 43 and had one more bogey and a five-over 8 on par-3 16th.
Meanwhile, world’s 481st ranked Larrazabal’s brilliant third round of four under par 67 at Le Golf National saw the 25-year-old Spaniard hold off Colin Montgomerie (68), Lee Westwood (69) and everyone else in the field. He is now 11-under par 202, three clear of the eight-time Order of Merit winner Montgomerie and Søren Hansen (67), with Westwood joined by David Lynn (71) a further stroke back on seven under.
Larrazabal, whose brother Alejandro was British amateur champion in 2002, birdied four of his first eight holes to take command of the event.