A Spanish veteran and a Swedish rookie find themselves tied for the lead heading into today's final round of the US$1.5 million BMW Asian Open at the Westin Resort Ta Shee.
Miguel Angel Jimenez and Carl Pettersson are locked at seven-under-par, thanks to Jimenez missing a short par putt on the final hole.
PHOTO: AFP
Jimenez, who has played on the European Tour for 14 years, lost his chance to end the round alone in the lead when his putt of less than 1m lipped out, leaving him with a round of two-under 70.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF ASIAN PGA
"There was something going through my mind at the time. I don't know what it was, but it distracted me and I missed the putt to the right," said Jimenez, who had sunk a 12m birdie putt on the 16th to temporarily take the lead for the first time in the tournament, which is joint-sanctioned by the European Tour and Asian Tour.
"It was a pity but I played well. On the front nine there were no birdies and no bogies," said Jimenez, who was third in this year's British Open.
Pettersson, who won the European Amateur Championship and starred at North Carolina State University before turning pro last year, overcame a slow start to finish with a three-under 69.
He lipped out birdie putts on the first two holes before making a bogie on the fourth.
"It feels nice to be up there. I had a good year on the European Tour but it has been a while since I have been in contention," said Pettersson, whose best finish this year was second in April's Argentina Open.
Second-round leader Jarmo Sandelin of Sweden shot an even-par round of 72 to share third place a stroke back with Thomas Levet of France, who carded a 69.
Sandelin had moved to nine under with a birdie on 10, but fell back with bogeys on 12, 15 and 16.
Foreign stars Jose Maria Olazabal, Vijay Singh, Michael Campbell and Nick Faldo didn't make a move yesterday. Olazabel shot an even-par 72 to remain at four under, while Singh dropped a shot with a 73 for a three-under total.
Campbell, who won the Johnnie Walker Classic two years ago at Ta Shee, was one under for the day to sit at level par overall. Faldo carded a two-over 74 yesterday to fall back to one over, tied for 25th place.
Wang leads players from taiwan
Wang Ter-chang (
Hsieh Yu-shu's (
Hsieh, who birdied the first three holes, credited his good round to his ability to relax.
"I think that when Taiwanese players are in this type of international tournament they are a little bit tense. Playing at home, there is a lot of pressure," he said. "The first round I was not very relaxed. But yesterday I played pretty well and today I was able to just let go and play normally because I made it into the final two rounds."
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