2006 China Tour Omega Championship - Round 3: Liang and Li battle it out

Like a pair of gunslingers Liang Wenchong and Li Chao traded shots, scoring 67 and 66 respectively, to leave the rest of the Omega Championship field in their wake after the third round of the Omega China Tour's season-ending event at Beijing's Tianan Golf Club.

Making light of difficult winds and rapid greens 26-year-old Li fired a bogey-free six-under par 66 including five birdies in six holes, and yet only cut Liang's lead to five shots. Liang, currently in the best form of his life, stands at 11-under par 205 for the tournament, ahead of Li on a six-under-par 210.

"I had a good start and a good finish. In between it was all Li Chao's game," said Liang, who had opened up a nine-shot lead by the eighth hole, saw it whittled down to three after the 14 th when Li Chao had his fifth birdie in six holes, and then opened up the gap again with two birdies in the home stretch.

"He's been such a good player throughout the two seasons of the Omega China Tour. He's made a lot of progress and he got me into a really good competition mood," added 28-year-old Liang.

"We weren't just fighting each other though, it was enjoyable competitive golf. That is how we both shot such good scores, because we both like a high-class and tense struggle with a little bit of laughter in between."

The camaraderie was evidence of how both players have improved their mentality in recent months. Unrecognisable from the volatile character he had been previously, 26-year-old Li, took Liang's early charge in his stride before hitting back.

"I thought I didn't have a chance of catching him, but as I had a very good back nine in the second round I started thinking that I may as well give it a try," Li explained.

"I'd just birdied the ninth, so I started attacking the pins all the way in, and luckily I got another four birdies in five holes. At that time I was only three shots away, but Liang is such a great player. He made no mistakes even though I was putting a lot of pressure on. He just kept saving pars when I was attacking. This is something that I need to learn."

The rest of the field, headed by little-known 25-year-old Shi Ningjie another nine shots back, were left in awe of the top two.

"It's great golf. It's top-class, but it's been that way for a while," said Chinese legend Zhang Lianwei, who has a share of fifth place 15 shots behind Liang and is not renowned for gushing praise if his own name is not featured on the leader board.

"It's not that the others aren't good. Those red numbers, those low numbers, that's a good score anywhere in the world."

"They're great ball strikers and they're really good mentally," added Shang Lei.

"Li Chao is a great player. I think they're both really on their A game and they have such mental strength; they're real fighters. They've just kept improving round by round. They're playing great golf. They're managing both the mental and physical side really well."

"They're such good putters. Once their putters are on, they're on!" exclaimed Tony Tan Yongzong, who, like his playing partner Shang, slipped out of contention during the third round.

"It was the hardest day so far. The wind dried the greens even more and they were way faster than the first two rounds. They're good. They have real ability."

The final day promises to be another head-to-head battle between Liang and Li, even if the outcome might heavily favour the former. Shi Ningjie will have the grandstand seat as the third player in the group. The Beijing-based youngster from Fujian province put himself in position for his best finish ever with an even-par 72 to leave himself three-over par for the tournament and two strokes clear of the rest of the field, but refused to get excited about the prospect.

"I'm not allowing myself to be too happy, but I'm not unhappy," he said.

"Recently a friend gave me some advice about the mental side of the game and it's starting to work. I'm just playing one stroke at a time. I'm just really focussing on each shot. No matter whether it's a good shot or a bad shot, I'm not thinking about it. I'm also looking at the course more and thinking about how to play it and focussing more on the strategic part of the game."

2006 Omega China Tour - Omega Championship

Leading Third Round scores - (Par 72)

205 – Liang Wenchong 70-68-67

210 – Li Chao 72-72-66

219 – Shi Ningjie 74-73-72

221 – Liao Guiming 72-74-75

222 – Zhang Lianwei 78-70-74, Zheng Wengen 81-69-72

223 – Deng Yonghong 74-72-77, Liu Anda 75-72-76

224 – Richard Qiu Zhifeng 73-77-74

225 – Yuan Hao 78-73-74

226 – Huang Mingjie 79-70-77, Jimmy Qi Zengfa 75-72-79

227 – Tony Tan Yongzong 73-76-78, Wu Xujun 76-72-79