Henrik Stenson will take a one shot lead into the final round of the BMW Asian Open after once again successfully fending off the parries of his nearest challengers as well as the difficult cold and blustery conditions which tested the third round at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club.
The 30 year old Swede – seeking his fourth European Tour International Schedule victory and his second of the year after his win in The CommercialBank Qatar Masters in January – carded a battling 71 for a six under par total of 210 and a one shot lead over Spain’s Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano in the co-sanctioned event between The European Tour and the Asian Tour.
Stenson, who had held the outright lead since his opening 67 on Thursday, momentarily dropped out of pole position after shedding shots at both the par three third and the par four sixth. But with his own grit and determination, allied to the inability of his challengers to take advantage of the situation, he quickly regained the ascendancy.
His length helped him find the green in two at the 570 yard ninth hole for a two putt birdie before he rolled in a 20 footer for a birdie three on the 16th. On every other hole apart from that, a solid par figure was the return for his efforts.
“It could have been a little bit better but to be honest I didn’t feel I played as good as I did yesterday,” he said. “But I put a decent score together I’m right up where I want to be. It was tough out there today. It’s tricky in the winds I had a few chances with a couple of putts I could have made but I’m happy with the position obviously going into tomorrow.”
Nearest challenger Fernandez-Castano, who was prominent in last week’s Volvo China Open in Beijing before narrowly losing out by a shot to Jeev Milkha Singh, again gave himself the platform to build his second European Tour victory with a second round 69 for a five under par total of 211.
The 25 year old Spaniard had a chance to share the lead with Stenson but three putted the last hole for a bogey six. It was his only dropped shot of the day, his only other departures from par in a solid scoring round, being birdies at the second, sixth, ninth and 11th holes.
“I am really happy because it was a tough day with the conditions and the cold,” he said. “But I was a bit disappointed with my tee shots, like last week, when I am feeling the pressure my swing gets a little bit too fast. But I managed to scramble well around the greens.
“I just want to go out there and enjoy my round of golf with Henrik tomorrow. I am not the one who has to win the tournament, I am the outsider. I will just go out there and play my best golf and hopefully things will go the right way for me and maybe I can take the trophy home. If not, I will try and learn as much as possible.
“We play to be in contention on Sundays and I have done that two weeks in a row and I have never done that before so I am really happy because I feel that my game is coming together at the right time of the year.
“I have been playing well, my putts are now dropping into the hole, so I will try and learn as much from this as possible. They say you learn more when
you finish second than if you win so if I finish second tomorrow I will try and learn from that and do it better next time.”
Three players share third place on four under par 212, the Antipodean duo of Peter O’Malley of Australia, who carded a third round 69 and Mahal Pearce of New Zealand, who went one better with a 68. They were joined late in the day by England’s Paul Casey, who carded a third round 69 in search of his third victory in China to follow his earlier successes in the TCL Classic and the Volvo China Open.
Like Fernandez-Castano, he too bogeyed the final hole to take a little gloss off his day, but considering the 28 year old Englishman also threw in a double bogey seven at the second hole after overshooting the green and three putting, he had every right to feel positive about his overall position in the tournament.
“I am pleased to be in with a shout tomorrow considering some of the numbers that I have put up over the past three days,” he said. “There has been a lot of colour on the scoreboard, red and whatever colour a double bogey is! There has been a lot going on for me out there so if I can cut out the blobs, then I think I can put a decent round together tomorrow.
“Colin Montgomerie said at the Gala Dinner last night that eight under par would be a good score (in terms of winning) and I still think that could be a very good number to shoot for. So four under tomorrow, a 68 for me, would be a good goal and it would also be my best round of the week. But if I am eight under with a few holes left, then I’ll reassess!”
Speaking of Montgomerie, the Scot battled gamely as always but the eight time European Tour Order of Merit winner finished up with a one under par 71 for a two under par total of 214, four shots adrift of Stenson in a share of eighth place.
If his prediction is to come true in terms of himself, Montgomerie will have to card a 66 – a feat not yet achieved on the testing Tomson layout – and hope none of the seven players ahead of him, nor José-Filipe Lima alongside him on 214, have days to remember.
