Murless opens two shot lead

2008-01-12

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By Thahir Asmal Special to PA SportsTicker

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Ticker) -- Mark Murless has opened a two-shot lead after Saturday's third round of the Joburg Open.

Murless continued to set the pace with a 2-under-par 69. He is at 11-under 202 through 54 holes.

The South African, who has led the championship at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club since Thursday, again kept his composure by recovering from dropped shots at Nos. 10 and 17 with his four birdies.

Murless' closest challengers are Germany's Sven Struver, rookie South African Tyrone Ferreira and Spaniard Pablo Larrazabal. The trio all are at 9-under.

The trio all were having average rounds before strong finishes moved them right back into contention. Ferreira especially made up ground as he picked up three strokes on the final two holes for a card of 69.

The day, however, belonged to Englishman Ross McGowan, who stormed back into contention with a bogey-free round of 64 the best of the championship so far. His performance helped him bounce back from Friday's lackluster 75 and move to 8-under overall to share fifth place with a host of players, including Northern Ireland's Darren Clarke.

The Ulsterman had another superb day adding to his 65 on Friday to stay in contention only three shots behind Murless.

But the day undoubtedly belonged to McGowan, who admitted afterward that he relieved with his improved performance.

"I was pretty annoyed last night and I went out this morning with the game plan of playing a little more aggressive," McGowan said. "I hit a six-iron into the first and holed it and it started from there, really.

"I felt like I hadn't played poorly at all (yesterday), so it was a bit of a surprise. But it was good to get out there on good greens. I kept it in play today and gave myself chances and that's exactly what I set out to do. I played nicely and the greens were great; they rolled well for me today. It was early when we went out and they weren't too worn out yet."

Despite his excellent round, Clarke admitted that there was still plenty of work to be done on improving his game.

"The round was pretty good, even if I didn't play as well as I did yesterday," Clarke said. "It was a grinding day again, really. You have to shoot for under-par here to give yourself a chance. To shoot four-under par the way I was driving, was good, but I'll have to go to the driving range and put some work in."