Sunday 25 October 2015 10:24, UK
Justin Rose will go into the final day of the UBS Hong Kong Open tied for the lead with Lucas Bjerregaard after the pair enjoyed an entertaining third-day battle at Fanling.
Rose, the pre-tournament favourite and highest-ranked player in the field, led by one overnight and played near-flawless golf, carding two eagles and a pair of birdies in a six-under 64.
But the young Dane was not intimidated by playing with the former US Open champion and put together a superb 63, although he relinquished the outright lead with his only bogey of the round at the final hole as the leaders finished on 15 under par.
Rose recovered from a wayward opening tee-shot to save par from 15 feet, and he rolled in another excellent putt from 25 feet feet for eagle at the third, where Bjerregaard birdied and then picked up another shot at the next.
Bjerregaard pulled level with Rose after a tap-in birdie at six, and the pair traded birdies at the 10th before the in-form Dane went two strokes clear with further gains at 11 and 12.
He made it four in a row at the next, but Rose clawed a shot back when he drained a monster 50-foot putt for his second eagle of the day and then converted a sublime approach to five feet at the 14th to regain a share of the lead.
Bjerregaard edged in front again with his fifth birdie of the back-nine at the 16th, but his approach to the last ended in an awkward lie against the collar of rough at the back of the green, and he was unable to get up and down to match Rose's solid closing par.
"It was great. I really enjoyed it out there with Justin. He's a really good guy and we kept making birdies, especially around the turn," Bjerregaard told the European Tour. "Obviously it's not fun to finish off any round with a bogey and especially not today. I hit a bad tee shot on 18 there, pretty much my only bad shot of the day.
"So not the way I wanted to finish, but still, I'm very happy with the round today."
Rose added: "Lucas played unbelievable golf today. I actually didn't know much about his game and first, he's a lovely guy and second, he can really play. I hung with him and what impressed me today was the couple of par saves that I had to make and rolled.
"The first hole, I didn't play the hole particularly well but made a nice 15-foot putt for par there and then eagling the third kind of got me up and running."
The pair have a four-shot lead over Anirban Lahiri, who came home in 31 to post a 65, while British Masters champion Matt Fitzpatrick in on 10 under after he raced to the turn in just 30 blows and picked up another shot at the 14th.
But the Sheffield youngster blotted his card at the last to take the gloss off a 66 and slip into a share of fourth with Indian veteran Jeev Milkha Singh, who recovered from an erratic front-nine with six birdies on the inward half to post a 65.
Matt Ford, who is 117th in the Race to Dubai and needing a strong week to avoid a return to Q-School, is a further shot adrift after carding a 67 despite a double-bogey at the ninth.
But Ian Poulter, who made a last-minute journey from Orlando to play this week and maintain his European Tour membership, saw his chances of victory disappear with three bogeys in his last five holes and a 73 which left him 11 shots off the pace alongside his Ryder Cup team-mate Graeme McDowell.
