Simon Yates pulls two shots clear

A Scotsman took his place at the top of the US$1.2 million UBS Hong Kong Open leaderboard after the third round on Saturday and it wasn't Colin Montgomerie.

Simon Yates, a Glaswegian based in Thailand for the past decade, stormed into the lead with a stunning course record of nine-under-par 61 at the revered Hong Kong Golf Club and opened up a two-shot advantage over his more illustrious compatriot Montgomerie, who battled to a 66.

South Africa's James Kinston, heartbroken here last year after finishing tied second, gave himself another title shot with a superb 64 while Sweden's Martin Erlandsson scrambled to a 68 to share second place with Montgomerie, crowned Europe's number one for a record eighth time last month.

First round leader Kang Wook-soon of Korea , the last Asian winner in Hong Kong since 1998, kept up his bid to end Asia 's drought when he returned a 68 for fifth place alongside overnight leader Rick Gibson of Canada , who scrambled to a 71 to fall three off the pace.

Thailand 's Thongchai Jaidee , Korea 's Choi Kyung-ju and Lin Keng-chi of Chinese Taipei were amongst those who will enter tomorrow's last round four back.

It was certainly a frenetic third day with numerous low scores and a couple of hole-in-ones that thrilled the large galleries. Korea's Ted Oh sank the first ace in this week's UBS Hong Kong Open on the fifth hole but it was Dutchman Robert Jan Derksen who got the reward – a one kilogramme gold bar worth US$15,000 courtesy of UBS - with his magical stroke of genius at the 12th.

Yates, a two-time winner on the Asian Tour, nearly holed in one as well on the eighth to win a BMW car but his tee shot struck the pin and stayed out of the cup. But a sensational nine-birdie card, which included four on the trot to end his round, left him on the verge of his career's biggest victory yet following his career best round.

"The front nine, I didn't miss a shot. I had two or three putts out there where it lipped out and on eight, I hit the pin for the car and rolled to five feet and then I missed the birdie putt! I'm like so disappointed. I'm saying like it's not going to be a low round today," said Yates, who leads on 11-under-par 199..

With a new putting grip, Yates rolled in a 12-footer on 10 and nailed a wedge to four feet at the short par three 12th for another birdie before finishing off in a flourish with four threes. He nailed an eight iron to eight feet for birdie, rolled home from 12 feet on 16th, knocked a nine iron to six feet at the next hole before draining a 20 footer at the last.

"And this is an unlucky shirt (red shirt)," smiled Yates. "Every time I put on this shirt, I'm like two or three over and I was thinking like I'm going to dump this red after today. Looks like I've I changed the luck. From nearly winning the gold bar (on Thursday where his tee shot hit the bottom of the cup and bounced back up), it's just like my luck was out when I hit the pin on the eighth hole today. I couldn't believe it when that happened and it's really nice to come back," said Yates.

The 42-year-old Montgomerie enjoyed seven birdies on the card but dropped three shots, including the 15th and 16th holes, after hitting fliers from out of the rough. "They were coming out a little hot which was not so good, as was missing the fairways I suppose. But I had seven birdies elsewhere and got myself into contention on Saturday night which was my goal at the start of the week, so I am doing okay," said Montgomerie.

The big Scot warned that a two-shot lead wasn't much over the composite course at Fanling. "No it is fine. Simon had a great score and best of luck to him because that was super. I have just got to do something low tomorrow as well. The scoring seems to be low, I said 14 under will win and I am sticking to that and that means I need 65 tomorrow, five under. I am quite capable of doing that," said Montgomerie.

The 39-year-old Kang, a two-time Asian number one, is dreaming of victory but knows he must reproduce some good form on the tricky greens. After turning in even par, birdies on 13 and 17 pushed him closer to the leader.

"I was not good with my putting again. It's been a long time since I have been in the top-10 and I was very nervous, more nervous that I have been in the old days," said Kang, a seven-time winner in Asia but not since 2001. "If I can improve on my putting, I will be able to catch the leaders as I'm only three strokes behind. I hope that I will have a nice dream tonight and will be better at putting," said Kang.

Two-time Asian Tour number one Thongchai stayed firmly in contention with five birdies for a round of 67 as he bids to reduce Thaworn Wiratchant's lead at the top of the Asian Tour Order of Merit. Thaworn carded a 69 and is tied 23rd.

Thongchai nailed some lengthy putts of over 20 feet on the fifth and seventh and is not ruling himself out of a title charge on Sunday. "I'm hitting a lot of greens but am leaving some putts short," said Thongchai. "I'm four behind but this is a course where you can shoot low as Simon did today," said the Thai.

The UBS Hong Kong Open is the penultimate event on the 2005 Asian Tour season and the third leg of the 2006 European Tour international schedule.

Leading third round scores

199 - Simon Yates (SCO) 69-69-61

201 - James Kingston (RSA) 68-69-64, Colin Montgomerie (SCO) 69-66-66, Martin Erlandsson (SWE) 65-68-68

202 - Damien Mcgrane (IRL) 68-71-63, Kang Wook-soon (KOR) 64-70-68, Rick Gibson (CAN) 65-66-71

203 - Maarten Lafeber (NLD) 72-68-63, Oliver Wilson (ENG) 75-64-64, K J Choi (KOR) 67-72-64

Lin Keng-chi (TPE) 68-69-66, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 68-68-67, Andrew Butterfield (ENG) 69-65-69, Edward Loar (USA) 68-64-71

204 - Jeev Milkha Singh ( IND ) 69-69-66, Thammanoon Srirot (THA) 71-67-66, Marc Cayeux (ZIM) 68-68-68

205 - Philip Golding (ENG) 70-70-65, Richard Bland (ENG) 70-68-67, Miles Tunnicliff (ENG) 68-70-67, Peter Gustafsson (SWE) 69-69-67, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 66-69-70

206 - Sam Little (ENG) 69-72-65, Wang Ter-chang (TPE) 72-68-66, Joakim Haeggman (SWE) 71-68-67, Ted Oh (KOR) 72-67-67, Scott Barr (AUS) 67-72-67, Robert-Jan Derksen (NDL) 69-69-68, Jose Manuel Lara (ESP) 67-70-69, Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 69-68-69, Marcus Both (AUS) 67-68-71

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