Birthday boy Terry Pilkadaris is threatening to blow away his rivals after opening up a three-stroke lead in the third round of the Sanya Open golf tournament in China on Saturday.
Pilkadaris, who turned 31 Saturday, maintained his recent good form, hitting five birdies in a row on the back nine en route to a near flawless six-under-par 66 at the Yalong Bay Golf Club. The Australian, who has a three-day total of 16-under-par 200, is chasing a Chinese double in the 250,000 US dollar event after his maiden Asian Tour victory in Shanghai last week.
Taiwan's Chang Tse-peng moved into contention with a matching 66 for second place on 203 while local hope Liang Wen-chong and Thai veteran Boonchu Ruangkit fired rounds of 66 and 64 respectively to lie four off the pace.
Sri Lanka's Anura Rohana tied the course record with an impressive 63 to share fifth place with Korea's Charlie Wi, Filipino Gerald Rosales and American duo Gerry Norquist and Clay Devers.
"I was quietly going along, burning the edges and then all of the sudden, I got a sniff of it and off I went," said Pilkadaris. "I had a good rhythm out there and standing over the putts I felt really confident," said the Australian who had officials singing 'Happy Birthday' and presenting him with a cake. Pilkadaris, whose run of good form includes a runner-up and fourth place outing in his last four starts, bogeyed the second hole but came roaring back with birdies on sixth and ninth to turn at one-under.
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