DAVID DRYSDALE SHARING THIRD PLACE IN INDIA

NEWS RELEASE FROM THE
EUROPEAN TOUR   
David Drysdale hopes his drive into water at the 18th hasn’t irreparably damaged his Avantha Masters chances as the Scot chases a first European Tour title at the 294th attempt.
The 37 year old from the Borders started the day two behind, and carded six birdies to remain in touch with leader Thomas Aiken until a double bogey at the last.
A 68 left him four behind the South African, but afterwards Drysdale, joint third, was refusing to throw in the towel.
“It was going to plan for 17 holes, then I got a bit greedy with my tee shot on the last, and ended up paying the price for it,” he said.
“Obviously the double leaves a bit of a sour taste in the mouth, but never mind, we live to fight another day.
“I would've taken going into the final day four shots off the lead if you'd offered it to me at the start of the week. I'll probably need to go very low tomorrow to have any chance of winning, but I'm looking forward to the challenge.
“He's obviously had a great round today, so it can be done. I just need to get the pace of the greens a bit better tomorrow, because I struggled with my pace all day.
“I'll go and do a bit of work on the putting green now, and hopefully that'll do the trick. Apart from the drive on the last, my long game has been really sharp all week.”


 NEWS RELEASE FROM THE ASIAN TOUR

Greater Noida, India: China’s Liang Wen-chong believes he is ready for the final push after he carded a third round three-under-par 69 to trail South African leader Thomas Aiken by three shots at the €1.8 million (approximately US$2.3 million) Avantha Masters today.

Aiken almost matched Thailand’s Chinnarat Phadungsil’s first round heroics when he signed for a 62 to head into the final round with the sole possession of the lead.

Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat returned with a 66 to share third place with Scotland’s David Drysdale (pictured right) while two-time Asian Tour winner, Scott Hend of Australia signed for a 68 to take tied-fifth place alongside England’s Tommy Fleetwood and Finland’s Joonas Granberg.

Liang earned the distinction of being the first mainland Chinese to win the Asian Tour Order of Merit in 2007 and with his last win on the Asian Tour coming from Indian soil in 2008, the Chinese is confident he can revive that winning feeling again.

“I’m just three shots back and I’m confident that the gap can be closed. The key is to stay patient. Anything can happen in golf and I only need to believe that I can do it,” said Liang, who also established a new low 18-hole score when he carded a 12-under-par 60 in the opening round of the Indian Open which he won in 2008. 

The Chinese did not have the best of starts in his opening front-nine as he marked his card with three birdies against two bogeys.

Liang, however ensured his back-nine would be a flawless one when he carded birdies on holes 12 and 15 to take second place.

“I was struggling a little on my front-nine. I missed a short putt on the sixth hole and got a bogey there. That affected me a little but I was able to regain my focus when I started my back-nine,” said Liang.

Meanwhile Aiken produced the performance of the day when he carded eight birdies and an eagle to head atop the leaderboard with his three-day total of 18-under-par 198.

“I concentrated very hard to play one shot at a time and it seemed to work. It just shows what can happen,” said Aiken.

Aiken, who has won once on the European Tour, is hopeful he can continue to capitalise on his lead and turn it into victory on Sunday.

“I’ve been playing very well the last four months and just haven’t converted opportunities. Fortunately this week I’ve converted a lot of the opportunities that I’ve had. The majority of them have gone in from inside ten feet and that’s what makes the difference from a scoring point of view,” said Aiken.

Starting the round four shots back of the leaders in tied-14^th place, big-hitting Kiradech hauled himself back into contention for his second Asian Tour win

The 7,347 yards, par-72 Jaypee Greens Golf Course is rated as the longest course in India but it is one that big-hitting Kiradech is taking full advantage of.

“This course suits all the long-hitters like myself. But it can be difficult when you miss the fairway as the bunkers are very high and that’s going to be tough,” said Kiradech who averages 335 yards in driving distance.

The 23-year-old enjoyed a splendid run with an outward 30. He bogeyed the par-four 10^th hole but responded with an eagle-three on the 12^th hole before dropping another shot on the 17^th hole.

“I had a solid start in my front-nine as I managed to sink all my putts. I struggled a bit on my back-nine as I missed a couple of putts and didn’t really tee off well,” said Kiradech.

“I wasn’t hoping to catch the leader by today I just tried to play my best game and didn’t want to give myself too much pressure. Hopefully I can have some luck to win tomorrow,” added the Thai.

Hend also believes his booming drives will provide him with the edge as he chases his third victory on the Asian Tour, which is celebrating its 10^th season in 2013.

The Australian’s otherwise perfect card was marred by a double-bogey six on the 16^th hole. Hend, however sounded an ominous warning that he is ready to win again.

“I played great, just one bad slip-up on the 16th which made it harder for tomorrow. I hit a horrendous tee shot and landed in the trees and from there I took five more,” said Hend.

“When you make a double-bogey on the third last hole of the day and someone posts an 18-under, it’s obviously not ideal. I’m going to come back strongly tomorrow and make 13 birdies and an eagle!” added the Australian

THIRD-ROUND SCOREBOARD

Par 216 (3x72) Yardage 7,347 

1	Thomas AIKEN	RSA	67	69	62		198
2	LIANG Wen-chong	CHN	66	66	69		201
3	Kiradech APHIBARNRAT	THA	68	68	66		202
3	David DRYSDALE	SCO	67	67	68		202
5	Scott HEND	AUS	67	68	68		203
5	Joonas GRANBERG	FIN	67	67	69		203
5	Tommy FLEETWOOD	ENG	69	65	69		203
8	Gaganjeet BHULLAR	IND	68	69	67		204
8	Julien QUESNE	FRA	69	66	69		204
8	Jaakko MAKITALO	FIN	67	68	69		204
8	Chapchai NIRAT	THA	66	66	72		204
12	Prom MEESAWAT	THA	68	73	64		205
12	Boonchu RUANGKIT	THA	70	70	65		205
12	David HOWELL	ENG	68	72	65		205
12	Kristoffer BROBERG	SWE	69	71	65		205
12	Rikard KARLBERG	SWE	67	69	69		205
17	KIM Gi-whan	KOR	71	70	65		206
17	David HORSEY	ENG	72	68	66		206
17	Magnus A CARLSSON	SWE	66	73	67		206
17	Jeev Milkha SINGH	IND	69	68	69		206
17	BAEK Seuk-hyun	KOR	68	68	70		206
17	Maximilian KIEFFER	GER	68	68	70		206
23	Berry HENSON	USA	69	71	67		207
23	Lee SLATTERY	ENG	72	67	68		207
23	Paul WARING	ENG	70	68	69		207
23	Anirban LAHIRI	IND	68	69	70		207
23	Victor DUBUISSON	FRA	69	68	70		207
23	Pablo LARRAZABAL	ESP	68	68	71		207
23	Adilson DA SILVA	BRA	70	65	72		207
23	Rahil GANGJEE	IND	69	66	72		207
23	Chinnarat PHADUNGSIL	THA	61	74	72		207
32	Jyoti RANDHAWA	IND	70	70	68		208
32	SIDDIKUR	BAN	73	67	68		208
32	Matthew BALDWIN	ENG	69	70	69		208
32	Andy SULLIVAN	ENG	71	68	69		208
32	Peter WHITEFORD	SCO	68	69	71		208
37	Himmat RAI	IND	70	71	68		209
37	Alvaro QUIROS	ESP	70	70	69		209
37	Raphael JACQUELIN	FRA	69	71	69		209
37	Mithun PERERA	SRI	70	70	69		209
37	Marc WARREN	SCO	71	69	69		209
37	Maarten LAFEBER	NED	73	66	70		209
37	Ashok KUMAR	IND	68	71	70		209
37	Abhijit CHADHA	IND	66	69	74		209
45	Manav JAINI	IND	70	71	69		210
45	Emilliano GRILLO	ARG	68	71	71		210
45	Soren KJELDSEN	DEN	72	67	71		210
45	Chawalit PLAPHOL	THA	66	68	76		210
49	Robert COLES	ENG	68	73	70		211
49	Kieran PRATT	AUS	71	70	70		211
49	Marcus BOTH	AUS	72	69	70		211
49	Thongchai JAIDEE	THA	70	71	70		211
49	Ricardo GONZALEZ	ARG	69	72	70		211
49	Oliver FISHER	ENG	69	71	71		211
49	Kwanchai TANNIN	THA	72	68	71		211
49	Darren BECK	AUS	69	71	71		211
49	Martin WIEGELE	AUT	72	67	72		211
49	Mardan MAMAT	SIN	68	71	72		211
49	Mark FOSTER	ENG	70	67	74		211
60	Craig LEE	SCO	70	71	71		212
60	LEE Sung	KOR	70	70	72		212
62	Robert DERKSEN	NED	72	69	72		213
62	Mukesh KUMAR	IND	72	69	72		213
62	Jason KNUTZON	USA	71	70	72		213
62	Angelo QUE	PHI	71	70	72		213
62	Rashid KHAN	IND	67	73	73		213
62	Scott BARR	AUS	67	72	74		213
68	Anura ROHANA	SRI	72	69	73		214
68	S.S.P. CHOWRASIA	IND	68	72	74		214
68	Brett RUMFORD	AUS	68	69	77		214
71	Bernd WIESBERGER	AUT	70	71	74		215
71	Ajeetesh SANDHU	IND	72	69	74		215
71	Vikrant CHOPRA	IND	72	69	74		215
74	PARK Hyun-bin	KOR	71	70	77		218