Indians drop to 20th at World Cup golf

Dongguan (China), Nov 29: India's Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa failed to find the kind of the form they showed on the first day and returned a 70 to fall to tied 20th at the end of the third round of the Omega Mission Hills World Cup golf here Saturday.

The Indians have a total of 209 and trail the leaders Spain by 15 strokes. The Indian duo had five birdies and three bogeys and fell from overnight 11th. The Indians birdied the second, third, 12th, 16th and 17th and dropped shots on 11th, 14th and 18th.

Australia and Spain are neck and neck going into the final round after a thrilling third round saw Richard Green and Brendan Jones draw level at 22-under-par.

While day two belonged to Spain, after Miguel Angel Jiménez and Pablo Larrazabal's breathtaking display in the foursomes, the third day of fourball went to Australia as Green and Jones combined for a nine-under-par 63 to catch the Spanish pair.

Australia made the faster start as they immediately set about closing the four stroke lead held by Spain overnight, making three birdies in the first four holes against one by Spain. An eagle on the seventh, however, seemed to ignite the Spaniards and at the turn they were three in front. The three stroke margin remained intact until a dramatic change of fortunes on the 15th.

The last four holes of the Olazábal Course at Mission Hills Golf Club are notoriously tough and Spain, who had looked to be totally in control of the championship, bogeyed the par five 15th while Australia eagled through Jones.

The three-shot swing put the two teams level and while Spain edged ahead with a birdie on the 16th, Australia moved into a share of the lead with a birdie on the last.

Spain lit up the Omega Mission Hills World Cup on day two with their camaraderie and outstanding play and while the third day fell short of that expectation, they remain tied for the lead and right in the hunt.

Both countries have won the World Cup title four times and are joint third in the list of all-time winners.

After the third round playing their own ball, the final day is back to alternate shots and teamwork will be vital.

Round three scores: 194 Spain (Miguel Angel Jimenez, Pablo Larrazabal) 64-63-67, Australia (Richard Green, Brendan Jones) 63-68-63; 198 Sweden (Henrik Stenson, Robert Karlsson) 65-67-66; 199 Germany (Martin Kaymer, Alex Cejka) 62-69-68; 201 Ireland (Graeme McDowell, Paul McGinley) 65-68-68; 202 Japan (Ryuji Imada, Toru Taniguchi) 66-68-68, US (Ben Curtis, Brandt Snedeker) 64-69-69; 204 Denmark (Soren Hansen, Anders Hansen) 65-75-64, Philippines (Angelo Que, Marciano Pucay) 67-72-65, Canada (Graham Delaet, Wes Heffernan) 64-71-69; 205 France (Gregory Havret, Gregory Bourdy) 68-75-62; 206 England (Ian Poulter, Ross Fisher) 69-74-63, Thailand (Prayad Marksaeng, Thongchai Jaidee) 69-73-64; 207 Italy (Francesco Molinari, Edoardo Molinari) 70-73-64, South Africa (Rory Sabbatini, Richard Sterne) 70-70-67, Portugal (Tiago Cruz,Ricardo Santos) 67-73-67, Finland (Roope Kakko, Mikko Korhonen) 69-70-68; 208:China (Liang Wen-chong, Zhang Lian-wei) 69-75-64, New Zealand (Mark Brown, David Smail) 65-75-68; 209 Chile (Felipe Aguilar, Mark Tullo) 67-76-66, Scotland,(Alastair Forsyth, Colin Montgomerie) 68-73-68, India (Jeev Mikha Singh, Jyoti Randhawa) 67-72-70, Korea (Bae Sang-moon, Kim Hyung-tae) 68-70-71; 211 Guatemala (Pablo Acuna, Alejandro Villavicencio) 69-76-66; 212 Chinese Taipei (Lin Wen-tang, Lu Wen-teh) 68-75-69; 214 Wales (Bradley Dredge, Richard Johnson) 69-77-68, Mexico (Daniel De Leon, Osca Serna), 66-77-71; 220: Venezuela (Miguel Martinez, Raul Sanz) 71-74-75

--IANS