India's Jeev Milkha Singh fired a round of two-over 74 to slip to tied-13th position at the 120 million yen Coca-Cola Tokai Classic after the penultimate round at the par-72 Miyoshi Country Club in Aichi, Japan.
The opening round leader, who has been playing this week despite a severe bout of flu, was let down by his form on the green despite executing some brilliant shots on his way there.
"It was unfortunate as I struggled with the putter again," said the 33-year-old.
"I have been hitting the ball pretty decently but today my putting and short game both let me down," added the golfer, who missed eight greens in regulation.
Jeev returned 31 putts for the day.
A first tee starter, Jeev dropped shots early on the second and third. But he managed to pulled it back to an extent with a birdie on the seventh, which incidentally proved to be his only one of the day.
A series of pars followed interspersed by a lone bogey on the 14th, his third of the day. Jeev will now be looking at the final round to redeem his position and essay a top-ten finish or better, considering just seven strokes separate him from the leader.
Leading scores (after 54 holes): 203 YE Yang(66,72,65); 205 T Taniguchi(66,71,68); 206 T Teshiyama(69,71,66), K Miyamoto(67,72,67), D Maruyama(68,71,67); 207 J Kikuchi(71,69,67), K Maita(69,69,69); 208 Y Miyazato(68,74,66), S Katayama(67,73,68), K Hosakawa(71,68,69), Dinesh Chand(69,69,70); 209 M Ozaki(70,71,68); 210 H Sujita(73,69,68), N Okuwa(74,67,69), Jeev Milkha Singh(65,71,74)
