Arjun Atwal opened up a four shot lead in Carlsberg Malaysian Open after moving to 17 under par before play was abandoned for the day as a tropical thunderstorm hit The Mines Resort and Golf Club in Kuala Lumpur.
The leading group had just completed the eighth hole of the third round when the klaxon sounded at 17.45 local time with Atwal picking up two birdies to move four strokes clear of World Number Five Retief Goosen and Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot.
The third round will resume at 8am on Sunday morning and players will then go out for the final round in the same groups as Saturday, with the fourth round starting at 9.45am and the leaders teeing off at 11.50am.
Atwal, who became the first Indian golfer to win on The European Tour International Schedule when he won last year’s Caltex Singapore Masters, presented by Carslberg, picked up two birdies in the first eight holes of his third round. Earlier the 29 year old from Calcutta had added a second round of 65 to his opening 62 for a 15 under par total of 127, the lowest 36 hole score of the season.
“I am not bothered b y this delay,” said Atwal. I flayed 11 holes in the morning and eight in the afternoon so I am not to upset. I would have liked to have finished but there was no way that was possible.
“I am still hitting it well and it is nice to be four in front. This is what you practice for. I’m concentrating well and keeping myself relaxed. I keep telling myself I have been in this situation before and that I’ve won four times on the Asian PGA Tour. If someone is going to beat me, he has got to shoot better than me. I don’t want to beat myself.”
Atwal’s biggest threat looks likely to be Goosen, the winner of the Volvo Order of Merit for the past two seasons. Goosen has won in every continent except Asia and hopes to put that right this week but has a lot of ground to make up.
“Arjun is playing really well,” said Goosen. “I didn’t play that solid today so hopefully it will be a bit better tomorrow. I hit one bad drive and pulled a nine iron which cost me a bogey. The greens are tricky and I have just got to get a few things going. Arjun has holed some good putts so is obviously reading the greens very well. But tomorrow is another day. Hopefully I can give myself a half chance but it is going to be tough.”
Goosen birdied the par five third hole after finding the green with a drive and a three iron, but a pulled nine iron cost him a bogey on the fifth. A final birdie on the eighth hole maintained his challenge.
Joining Goosen is Srirot, a winner of four events on the Asian PGA Tour, after picking up three birdies in his eight holes. But the Thai golfer is in trouble on the ninth having hooked his tee shot into the jungle. After playing three off the tee, Srirot found the green with his fourth and had a putt for a five when play resumes in the morning.
Two shots further back on 11 under par are Daniel Chopra, Padraig Harrington, Ted Oh and Dean Robertson, who made the biggest climb up the leaderboard with five birdies in his 11 holes.
