Jeev, Randhawa set for strong finish at World Cup

Shenzhen China:

Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa put India in contention for a top-five finish at the Omega Mission Hills World Cup of Golf after combining for a brilliant seven-under 65 in the third-round four-ball here on Saturday.

The Indians ended their day on 16-under 200 to share the ninth place with Korea, Argentina and Australia.

India lived up to their earlier promise of going all out for a charge in fourball format, in which each player of the team plays with his own ball until completing the hole. The lower of the two scores is recorded as team score for that hole.

Jeev, a six-time Asian Tour winner and the continent's number one in 2008, kept up India's charge with five birdies while partner Randhawa coloured their card with another three birdies of his own.

They blitzed their opening front-nine with five birdies against a lone bogey on the par-three eighth. The pair then fired three consecutive birdies starting from the 10th to return home in 65.

However, Singh and Randhawa were left to rue several missed birdie chances which would have given them a lower score on the home run.

"We played well today but looking back we were just not aggressive with the putts. We were looking at 10 or 11-under for today but didn't happen. But we are playing well and we'll make our final charge tomorrow," said Jeev.

The Irish team of Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy held on to the lead after carding a 64 to total 190.

Italy's Molinari brothers Edoardo and Francesco carded the joint lowest round of the third day with Korea, posting a brilliant 11-under 61 to move to 25-under and into a share of second place with defending champions Sweden.

Sweden, thanks to the efforts of Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson, compiled a fine 62 to lie just one shot behind Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy.

The final day of competition will revert to the foursomes format, where the teams compete using only one ball per pair.