By IANS,
Ash (England) : Indian golfer Jeev Milkha Singh strung together one of his finest rounds in the face of adverse conditions on a tough course to move into a three-shot lead at the end of the third round of the European Open.
The Indian ace, a multiple winner on the European Tour, Saturday shot a one-under 71 that included three birdies in last four holes and four-under over last six, to move to nine-under 208. He shared the lead with Frenchman Christian Ceva�r (70) at the London Golf Club here.
Shiv Kapur (75) slipped to tied 24th, while Jyoti Randhawa (79), second after first round, went down further to tied 47th.
On a day when the conditions forced the scores to go really high, Jeev, the World No. 39, and World No. 449 Ceva�r were the pick. It was a day of twists and turns and as many as nine players held at least a share of the lead during the third round.
They shot 70 and 71, respectively, Ceva�r making one of only two birdies all day on the 471 yard last. The 69 strong field were a cumulative 76 over par there.
Jeev, the joint halfway leader with Ceva�r’s compatriot Michael Lorenzo-Vera, played the last six holes in a quite brilliant four under. And he did that by playing bold golf.
“I just got aggressive,” Jeev said. “I made a good birdie putt on 15, and then I birdied 16, hit a great shot into 17, birdied that. I think a finish like that doesn’t happen too often, but I’ll take it.”
Talking of his final round, Jeev said: “Yes, it is going to be exciting. Christian is playing well. He played right in front of me. That’s great to see that; a lot of good players. I think the tournament is not over until the last putt is holed out, so we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Only two players, Ceva�r and Ricardo Gonzalez (73) had birdies on the 18th, while 19 others, including Jeev, had pars. The remaining 48 players shot bogeys or over and that included a quadruple bogey by Randhawa (79) and a triple by Kapur (75).
Rory McIlroy, golf’s gifted 20-year-old, is one of two 2009 European Tour winners in a share of third place – Alvaro Quiros is the other – along with England’s hottest golfing prospect Chris Wood.
McIlroy produced a superb four under par 68 to charge from 25th place overnight to joint third. And Wood, the 21 year old from Bristol who as an amateur finished a spectacular fifth in The Open Championship last July, made the exact same move as he continued his bid for a maiden European Tour win.