Clarke in the driving seat in Shanghai

4/26/2008

Darren Clarke slipped into the driver’s seat at the BMW Asian Open after a sparkling five under par 67 gave him a one-shot lead and moved him into pole position for his first European Tour title for nearly five years.

The big Ulsterman fired five birdies against no bogeys at the Tomson Shanghai Pudong Golf Club to edge ahead of overnight co-leader Robert-Jan Derksen of The Netherlands, who returned a 69.
 
Englishman Robert Dinwiddie, playing his rookie season after graduating from the Challenge Tour,  produced the day’s best of 66 to charge into third place, two off the lead while Chinese Taipei’s Lin Wen-tang battled to a 69 to give himself a shot at the BMW Asian Open title on Sunday.
 
Chinese teenage amateur Hu Mu was the best placed local player in a share of fifth place after he holed his second shot for eagle on his way to a 71. Joint overnight leader Zhang Lian-wei endured a difficult 76 to fall out of contention while Liang Wen-chong settled for a 73.
 
Clarke, who is making his maiden visit to China, was in his element as he rolled in birdies on the second, sixth, tenth, 15th and 18th holes to take pole position heading into the final round.

Clarke last won on The European Tour International Schedule when he captured the WGC – NEC Invitational although his last title was in the Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters at the end of 2005.

Leaderboard – Round 3:

1. Darren Clarke                       NIR   71 69 67 217 - 9
2. Robert-Jan Derksen               NED  70 69 69 208 - 8
3. Robert Dinwiddie                    ENG  70 73 66 209 - 7
4. Lin Wen-Tang                        TPE  71 71 69 211 - 5
5. Michael Lorenzo-Vera             FRA  75 69 69 213 - 3
    Hu Mu (am.)                         CHN  73 69 71 213 - 3
    Peter O´Malley                      AUS  67 74 72 213 - 3
    Digvijay Singh                        IND  74 72 67 213 - 3
9. David Gleeson                       AUS  73 73 68 214 - 2
    Retief Goosen                        SAF  72 70 72 214 - 2
    Scott Hend                            AUS  69 74 71 214 - 2
    Francesco Molinari                   ITA  71 75 68 214 - 2
    Jeev Milkha Singh                   IND  68 76 70 214 - 2
    Miles Tunnicliff                       ENG  71 70 73 214 - 2

Source: European Tour