2006 China Tour Yanji Golf Championship - Round 3: Chen maintains lead with Li Chao one behind

The man whose name Xiaoma means Pony fittingly conquered the Mountain Course at Yanji Harangang Golf Resort once again to lead by one stroke from Li Chao and two from Yuan Hao, Wu Weihuang and Huang Mingjie

Chen, who started the day one ahead of Huang, fired a two-over-par 74 for a three-round aggregate of one-over-par 217.

Li, winner of the Order of Merit title in 2005, carded a 72 - in what is the fourth event of the season, located uniquely in the mountains 45 minutes from North Korea.

Chen has been a revelation this week as he pulled out of the previous event in Guangzhou last month due to dehydration and spent three days in hospital in Shanghai.

Prior to that he had finished joint second in Qingdao, for his best finish on tour.

“Playing in the final pairing is new to me but I am enjoying it. I don’t feel any pressure and I am just taking it shot by shot,” said Chen.

He made turn in three over due a double bogey on the fourth and bogey on the ninth. However he regrouped on the homeward stretch and kept a clean sheet making eight pars and a birdie.

At one point four players Chen, Li, Huang and Wu were tied for the lead on the back nine.

“I only looked at the leader board once today after 14 and saw things were close. It will be the same tomorrow but I will just stick to my game plan,” added Chen, who between 1997 and 2006 was based at Shanghai Silport Golf Club, where the Volvo China Open was played for many years.

While Chen is chasing is first win on Tour, Li is in search of his fifth.

Li was penalized two strokes in the second round for a mistake he made on the 11th hole - where he took a free drop but played the shot but with part of his stance still on the hazard.

“I am still very upset about that. It’s on my mind a lot so I am pleased to be in contention still and to have shot a level par round,” said Li.

Hot on the heels of the pacesetters are Yuan who carded a 71, Wu who returned a 73 and Huang, in with a 75.

Amateur Zhang Xinjun continues to outplay his more experience professional peers and shot a 75 to lie four shots behind Chen.

Leading Third Round Scores (click here for full leaderboard) - Par 72:

217 - Chen Xiaoma 74-69-74

218 - Li Chao 74-72-72

219 - Huang Mingjie 72-72-75, Wu Weihuang 72-74-73, Yuan Hao 74-74-71

221 - Zhang Xinjun [A] 73-73-75

222 - Wang Lei73-74-75, Ye Xionghui 77-72-73, Xiao Zhijin73-78-71

223 - Liu Guojie 71-77-75, He Shaocai 73-77-73, Liu Junfeng 80-70-73, Wu Kangchun 76-75-72

(A) denotes amateur

July 14, 2006