Olazabal closes in on leaders

Jose Maria Olazabal's birdie blitz in Saturday's third round of the Greg Norman International tournament took him to within two shots of the leaders.

The U.S. Masters champion carded nine birdies in a seven-under-par 66.

That left him level with Britain's Andrew Coltart and Australians Peter Senior and Wayne Smith in a four-way tie for third place, two strokes behind the leaders, Briton David Park and Australia's Lucas Parsons.

Park led by two after 36 holes and stretched his advantage to four midway through Saturday's round but had to endure an uncomfortable day out in front as the temperature rose to 39 degrees Celsius.

He reached 15 under when he chipped in from the bunker to birdie the par-five 548-yard eighth but dropped two shots on the back nine to finish at 13 under after a 73..

He was joined at the top of the leaderboard by Parsons when he holed a curling 40-foot putt on the par-three 195 yard 18th for a round of 70.

Olazabal missed the cut at last week's Heineken Classic in Perth but is clearly starting to find his feet after a long European winter break.

The Spaniard began his third round steadily, reaching level par for the day through the opening six holes before suddenly cutting loose with birdies at seven of the next eight holes.

He picked up shots at each of the course's five par-fives and holed a 12-foot putt on the par-three ninth to go out in 33.

Olazabal holed an 18-footer for birdie at the 10th, coming home in 33. Only Australian Craig Parry could match his 66.

"It has been a nice day, I'm very pleased with the round," Olazabal said.

"After six holes everything looked quite grey but after that I managed to get some birdies and that got me going."

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