Shiv jumps to 5th place at Singapore Randhawa tied 8th

Singapore, Sep 9 (UNI) On a day when the ghost of the green haunted many of the seasoned campaigners, Shiv Kapur kept things in control and moved up to the fifth spot with a one-over 72, while compatriot Jyoti Randhawa rose to the eighth position after the penultimate round of the three million dollar Barclays Singapore Open here today.

At the demanding Sentosa Golf Club's par-71 Serapong course, Jeev Milkha Singh was the only Indian to be under-par with his 70 as all others disappointed on a day when bad weather led to a two hour, 10 minute suspension.

Shiv fired in two bogeys against three bogeys for his first over-par score in the tournament, leaving him with a three-day total of two-under 211, six shots behind leaders Ernie Els (69) of South Africa and Adam Scott (66) of Australia, who have set up a final round showdown for the title.

''I did not get anything going today but hung in there pretty much. If I made the putt at the last (for birdie) it would have turned a good round into a great round,'' Shiv said.

''With the US Open-style rough and the pins in the positions they were today 72 was a good score. You cannot force anything on this course.

''Tomorrow I will try and put myself into position and see what happens. I am up against two of the best players in the world so I guess I will have to go pretty low (if I am going to win),'' he added.

Randhawa stumbled upon two bogeys and a double bogey against three birdies to accumulate a total of even-par 213.

It was Jeev Milkha Singh, who gave the best performance by an Indian today and finally managed to arrest the slide of his previous two rounds.

After his nightmarish second round of 76, the highest ranked Indian carded an impressive one-under 70 to take his three-day tally to four-over 217 for the tied 25th place, also shared by compatriot Gaurav Ghei who returned 72.

Among the other Indians in the fray, Arjun Singh (73) and SSP Chowrasia (75) were tied for the 19th position with a three-day total of three-over 216.

Meanwhile, apart from the tough course the players also had to battle the poor weather and and sirens signalled the threat of lightning, forcing the players to mark their positions and leave the course immediately during mid-afternoon.

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