Amandeep Johl bounced back with a three-under 68 in the third round to climb to tied sixth and move into contention for his first top-10 finish of the year, in the inaugural US $300,000 Brunei Open.
Johl, who was 17th after two rounds, is the best among six Indians, and is now eight-under 205 for three rounds.
The Indian, who made the cut, is seven shots behind leader Australian Terry Pilkadaris, who is looking for a good payday to go on his honeymoon, nine months after his marriage to Monique, who caddies for him. He grabbed the third round lead at a battling three-under-par 68.
Pilkadaris edged ahead by one stroke with his three-day total of 15-under-par 198 at the par-71 Empire Hotel and Country Club. Compatriot Jarrod Lyle carded a 69 for second place while overnight leader Danny Chia of Malaysia stumbled to a 72 for third position, three shots behind the leader.
Though Johl lies the best among the Indians, the day's best card came from former Indian Open champion Firoze Ali of Kolkata, who shot a four-under 67, which could have been better but for bogey on the final hole, the 18th.
At six-under 206, Firoze is now tied 15th, while Gaurav Ghei and Ashok Kumar brought home par rounds and are tied 27th at four-under. Uttam Singh Mundy played his third straight par round and he is now tied 49th, while Digvijay Singh slipped with a seven-over 78 to be tied 68th.
Johl had two birdies on the front nine on third and fourth but dropped a shot on seventh. He picked up a birdie on 12th, but gave it back on 14th, before getting his concentration together again to birdie the 15th and 18th.
"I managed my game well today and kept it together. Yesterday, I got frustrated and gave away shots but today after a mistake, I told myself to stick to my rhythm and it worked nicely. I'm trying my hardest out there and I'll give it a shot to finish strongly," said Johl.
As he approaches his first top-10 of the year, Johl added, "I birdied the 18th hole which was nice as it's a tough challenge. I hit a seven iron to eight foot and made the putt. I'm striking my irons okay and just concentrating on my rhythm."
Firoze looked set for a brilliant card as he was four-under after seven holes and rapidly climbing up the leaderboard. Then he dropped a shot on the ninth, but still came back with birdies on 12th and 16th. Just then on the final hole, he dropped one more for a four-under 67.
Ghei had three birdies and three bogeys in his par 71, while Ashok birdied two and dropped two for his par round.
Uttam Singh Mundy also had two each of birdies and bogeys for a par round. Digvijay struggled with just two birdies on sixth and seventh, while he bogeyed the first, third, ninth, 14th, 15th and 17th and also double bogeyed the fourth for five-over card.
With another steady display, Pilkadaris, currently seventh on the Order of Merit, cruised to four under for the round with birdies on the second, ninth, 12th and 15th before dropping his first bogey of the week at the difficult 18th by finding the fairway trap.
Chia, who led for the opening two rounds, endured a turbulent day, dropping four bogeys against three birdies.
Meanwhile, prize-money for the Brunei Open will be boosted to at least US $500,000 in 2006, organisers announced earlier today.
Leading third round scores: 198 - Terry Pilkadaris (AUS) 67-63-68, 199 - Jarrod Lyle (AUS) 67-63-69, 201 - Danny Chia (MAS) 63-66-72, 203 - Li Chao (CHN) 67-70-66, 204 - Matt Keegan (AUS) 71-66-67, 205 - Lin Wen-tang (TPE) 71-68-66, Amandeep Johl (IND) 67-70-68, Lu Wen-teh (TPE) 68-69-68, Rick Gibson (CAN) 69-67-69, Lin Chie-hsiang (TPE) 67-68-70, Rashid Ismail (MAS) 70-65-70.
Indian scores (after 3 rounds): 205: Amandeep Johl 67-70-68 (T-6); 207: Firoze Ali 69-71-67 (T-15); 209: Gaurav Ghei 67-71-71 and Ashok Kumar 67-71-71 (T-27); 213: Uttam Singh Mundy 71-71-71 (T-49); 218 Digvijay Singh 70-70-78 (T-68).
