Melbourne: A birdie on the closing hole saw India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar force his way into the top-10 at the end of the third round of the Talisker Masters at the Royal Melbourne Golf Club, here on Saturday.
Bhullar was now three-under 210 and in tied 10th place.
At the top, Masters champion Adam Scott moved into a four-shot lead with a second straight 66 and he was 14-under 199 for 54 holes.
But the star of the third day was Vijay Singh (63) as he rocketed to tied second place alongside Australians Nick Cullen (69), Nathan Holman (70) and Matthew Griffin (69).
Bhullar opened with a birdie on first but dropped shots on third and seventh to fall to one-over. But birdies on eighth and ninth saw him get back to red numbers. Another birdie on 12th was offset by a bogey on 13th, but he finished with a birdie and a 69.
India’s other challenger Anirban Lahiri had missed the halfway cut.
Scott continued to show why he is the World Number two as he took a four shot lead into the final round.
Scott made the turn at 5-under par before a challenging back nine saw two birdies and two bogeys for a round of 66.
Two birdies in the closing four holes extended Scott’s lead back out to four shots over the second placed foursome.
The day belonged to Singh who fired an 8-under 63 on Royal Melbourne’s Composite Course.
His round featured an eagle on the par-5 15th as well as seven birdies and two bogeys.
Rounding out the top-10 on the leaderboard was American Matt Kuchar in outright sixth on 9-under, New Zealander Ryan Fox outright seventh on 8-under, Zimbabwean Brendon De Jong outright eighth on 7-under and Australian Brody Ninyette outright ninth on 5-under.
Another group of five players, including Bhullar, are tied 10th on 3-under the card and will start the final round 11 shots off the pace.
