Joshi and Henson Chase Leaders at Maybank Championship

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India’s Khalin Joshi and Berry Henson of the United States took advantage of opening eagles to stay in the title hunt after the third round of the Maybank Championship on Saturday.

The 26-year-old Joshi and Henson, who also eagled the last hole, fired matching seven-under-par 65s to trail co-leaders Jorge Campillo of Spain and world number 47 Dylan Frittelli of South Africa by a shot, at the Saujana Golf and Country Club.

Campillo and Frittelli both returned on 66s to set the pace on 15-under-par 201 in a crowded leaderboard at the US$3 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and European Tour.

The 52-year-old Prayad Marksaeng turned back the clock after posting a bogey-free 67 while Japanese heartthrob Ryo Ishikawa fired a sparkling 63 to share fifth place. Co-overnight leaders Phachara Khongwatmai (70) and Nino Bertasio (70), Hideto Tanihara (68) and Marc Warren (69) were also tied for fifth.

Joshi was delighted to be in the hunt for a first Asian Tour victory in his debut appearance at the Maybank Championship. The amiable Indian chipped in from 20 yards for an opening eagle and returned with five birdies to stay in the title hunt.

He said, “I feel good playing a bogey-free Saturday. I haven’t seen a Saturday in two week so I was really excited to go out there and post a good number. I’ve been making small errors lately but I found some form going into Thursday so I’m feeling good. Things are turning around and the results are showing.

“I’m driving the ball well and I’m holing the four, five footer putts. My short game and driving are really showing good results. It is a bunched up leaderboard so you want to go out there and shoot a low number.

“It was good to have the start I did. It made me loose a bit. (On the eagle) I hit it short of the green but I hit a perfect chip from about 20 yards into the hole. I had about 237 yards to the hole and I hit a hybrid. I’m really looking forward to the final 18 holes because my game has finally showed up.”

The 38-year-old Henson continued his fine form after finishing eighth and fourth in Singapore and Myanmar respectively in the last two weeks. He has enjoyed an amazing run so far after returning from a wrist injury where he was side-lined for 18 months.

“I played great today, you know, I still have one more day, I feel great and my game is good. I am just enjoying playing golf again,”said Henson.

Frittelli, who won the Mauritius Open in December where he defeated Arjun Atwal in a play-off, continued his hot form. He also finished tied 19th and tied sixth place in Abu Dhabi and Dubai before the Maybank Championship to break into the top-50 in the world.

“It was a good round. I started off a bit slow but some good birdies during the middle part of the round and that kept me going,” said Frittelli.

He added, “I said it yesterday, just patience on the greens. I think a lot of the guys are getting frustrated with the greens and I’m just trying to stay as positive as I can, and just try and speak to them nice and get the ball to go in the hole.”

Campillo of Spain eagled the first hole from 35 feet before marking his card with four birdies to head into the final 18 holes with a fighting chance to win his career’s first victory.

“It was good. I played solid for most of the round. I had a few tough holes but I managed to make the putts so overall I played solid. It is a good day. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. It is a nice position to be and I’m excited,” said Campillo.

The second cut today saw two Malaysians Nicholas Fung and Ben Leong out of the final round. Gavin Green and Amir Nazrin are still in the mix with Green in 26th position after rounds of 68-69-69 for total 10-under 206 and Nazrin at 63th place with scores of 70-68-74 for 4-under 212 total.

“I’m still within striking distance. Everybody is bunched up so if I can go out and shoot as many birdies as possible, I will have a good chance,” said Green.

Third Round Scores

201 D Frittelli (RSA) 69 66 66, J Campillo (Esp) 69 66 66,
202 K Joshi (Ind) 67 70 65, B Henson (USA) 69 68 65,
203 H Tanihara (Jpn) 71 64 68, P Khongwatmai (Tha) 68 65 70, M Warren (Sco) 68 66 69, P Marksaeng (Tha) 71 65 67, R Ishikawa (Jpn) 74 66 63, N Bertasio (Ita) 68 65 70,
204 B Hebert (Fra) 69 70 65, Y Miyazato (Jpn) 71 67 66, R Fox (Nzl) 68 68 68, P Peterson (USA) 69 70 65, P Larrazábal (Esp) 70 70 64, S Kapur (Ind) 70 67 67, M Lorenzo-Vera (Fra) 66 71 67, L Westwood (Eng) 72 62 70,
205 R Wattel (Fra) 67 73 65, G Bhullar (Ind) 68 71 66, Y Ikeda (Jpn) 70 64 71, T Detry (Bel) 68 68 69, T Bjørn (Den) 68 68 69, S Sharma (Ind) 70 69 66, T Jaidee (Tha) 69 67 69,
206 J Luiten (Ned) 72 68 66, C Paisley (Eng) 65 69 72, D Lipsky (USA) 67 68 71, A Atwal (Ind) 67 71 68, G Green (Mas) 68 69 69, M Kieffer (Ger) 69 66 71, S Jamieson (Sco) 68 69 69, A Johnston (Eng) 67 71 68,
207 S Lee (Kor) 67 69 71, S Kjeldsen (Den) 69 67 71, M Pavon (Fra) 70 67 70, D Boonma (Tha) 70 66 71, D Kataoka (Jpn) 68 67 72,
208 M Manassero (Ita) 70 68 70, P Pittayarat (Tha) 72 66 70, A Sullivan (Eng) 71 66 71, D Horsey (Eng) 66 70 72, S Gallacher (Sco) 70 65 73, M Tran (Vie) 73 65 70, J Colomo (Esp) 71 67 70,
209 J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 71 70, A Otaegui (Esp) 69 71 69, G Storm (Eng) 72 68 69, A Lascuna (Phi) 69 68 72, T Wiratchant (Tha) 70 70 69, J Randhawa (Ind) 67 71 71,
210 S Vincent (Zim) 71 68 71, C Shih-Chang (Tpe) 68 69 73, A Dodt (Aus) 71 65 74, A Levy (Fra) 67 70 73, J Wang (Kor) 70 70 70, P Meesawat (Tha) 74 66 70,
211 S Chawrasia (Ind) 69 71 71, K Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 70 72, M Southgate (Eng) 73 66 72, J Pagunsan (Phi) 68 70 73, S Kim (USA) 71 69 71,
212 S Yates (Sco) 72 66 74, A Nazrin (Mas) 70 68 74, J Smith (Eng) 70 68 74, R Ramsay (Sco) 71 68 73, F Zanotti (Par) 68 69 75, H Stenson (Swe) 72 67 73, R Wannasrichan (Tha) 70 70 72,
213 K Horne (RSA) 71 68 74, A Connelly (Can) 71 69 73, J Norris (Aus) 71 69 73, D Im (USA) 69 71 73,
214 C Hanson (Eng) 68 70 76, N Fung (Mas) 71 69 74,
216 B Leong (Mas) 69 70 77, C Pigem (Esp) 69 71 76, M Siem (Ger) 69 71 76,
217 R Karlsson (Swe) 68 68 81,
218 E Pepperell (Eng) 69 69 80,
219 D Clarke (Nir) 72 68 79,
141 H Porteous (RSA) 70 71 0, S Hend (Aus) 75 66 0, M Tabuena (Phi) 69 72 0, A Da Silva (Bra) 69 72 0, H Chien-Yao (Tpe) 70 71 0, J Veerman (USA) 71 70 0, J Scrivener (Aus) 71 70 0, N Srithong (Tha) 74 67 0, J Todd (USA) 72 69 0, L Bjerregaard (Den) 72 69 0, B Xiao (Chn) 68 73 0,
142 B Wiesberger (Aut) 71 71 0, T Olesen (Den) 73 69 0, T Kaewsiribandit (Tha) 68 74 0, Y Song (Kor) 73 69 0, A Vongvanij (Tha) 72 70 0, G Bourdy
(Fra) 69 73 0, L Wenchong (Chn) 70 72 0, B Stone (RSA) 72 70 0, L Slattery (Eng) 72 70 0, M Shin (USA) 71 71 0, C O'Toole (USA) 70 72 0, A Björk (Swe) 71 71 0, P Saksansin (Tha) 74 68 0,
143 J Kruger (RSA) 71 72 0, D Burmester (RSA) 72 71 0, M Wafiyuddin (Mas) 69 74 0, L Wei-Chih (Tpe) 70 73 0, S Othman (Mas) 74 69 0, Q Quek (Sin) 73 70 0, A Quiros (Esp) 73 70 0, T Pilkadaris (Aus) 72 71 0, M Fraser (Aus) 72 71 0,
144 D Chia (Mas) 73 71 0, J Higginbottom (Aus) 75 69 0, R Paratore (Ita) 72 72 0, R Rock (Eng) 72 72 0, S Norris (RSA) 72 72 0, R Hie (Ina) 75 69 0, T Sinnott (Aus) 70 74 0, C S (Ind) 74 70 0, D Willett (Eng) 74 70 0, R Khan (Ind) 72 72 0,
145 P Waring (Eng) 73 72 0, P Tangkamolprasert (Tha) 72 73 0, N Elvira (Esp) 73 72 0, R Lee (Can) 74 71 0, A Sandhu (Ind) 74 71 0, J Lagergren (Swe) 73 72 0, A Irawan (Mas) 73 72 0, L Haotong (Chn) 74 71 0,
146 E Molinari (Ita) 73 73 0, N Lin (Mya) 74 72 0, S Brazel (Aus) 70 76 0, R Gangjee (Ind) 73 73 0, O Fisher (Eng) 73 73 0, A Que (Phi) 73 73 0,
147 J Quiban (Phi) 71 76 0, C Kumar (Ind) 75 72 0, M Wallace (Eng) 74 73 0, M Sasidaran (Mas) 72 75 0, S Rahman (Ban) 71 76 0, L Yuxin (Chn) 72 75 0,
148 K Baharin (Mas) 71 77 0, R Nachimuthu (Mas) 73 75 0, Y Chang (Kor) 75 73 0,
149 G Kim (Kor) 73 76 0,
151 A Zahari (Mas) 76 75 0, L Weber (Fra) 75 76 0, G Green (am) (Mas) 79 72 0,
152 K Kheng Hwai (Mas) 75 77 0,
153 S Ariffin (Mas) 75 78 0, W Ormsby (Aus) 78 75 0,
** S Yongcharoenchai (Tha) 78 RT 0, J Elson (Eng) RT 0 0,