Retief Goosen moved to within two shots of Arjun Atwal going into the final round of the Carlsberg Malaysian Open after birdieing the final two holes at The Mines Resort and Golf Club, Kuala Lumpur.
Goosen trailed Atwal by four strokes when the third round resumed this morning after Saturday’s tropical thunderstorm, but the Indian’s lead was immediately halved when he doubled bogeyed his first hole of the day, the ninth, after pulling his tee shot and losing his ball.
But the 2002 Caltex Singapore Masters champion bounced back from his early set back with birdies on the 11th and 13th, countered by Goosen’s birdies on the tenth and 13th. Atwal then regained his four stroke advantage with an outstanding eagle on the 293 yard par four 13th after driving to within five feet of the hole.
Goosen, however, remained hot on his heels with back-toback-birdies to finish, his approach to the last particularly impressive as it spun back to a foot from the hole.
“Two birdies to finish gives myself a bit more of a chance this afternoon,” said Goosen. “It will be a good match if it doesn’t get rained off.”
Arjun, the only Indian golfer to have won on The European Tour International Schedule, said: “I started poorly upon the resumption of the third round this morning but after that I played okay. The eagle on the 15th was nice. I’m still feeling good.”
Padraig Harrington and Daniel Chopra are both on 14 under par while Dean Robertson made a charge with a seven under par 64 to move to 13 under par.
