Blyth leads in Kuala Lumpur
Adam Blyth of Australia will take a one-stroke lead into the final round of the Maybank Malaysian Open after carding a six-under-par 66 today to edge ahead of Alexander Noren of Sweden and China's Liang Wen-chong.
Blyth, who began the day on eight-under, fired an eagle and six birdies on Saujana Golf & Country Club's Palm Course to storm to the top of the leaderboard, one shot ahead of Noren (69) and Liang (67).
Miles Tunnicliff recorded the day's best round with a nine-under 63 to join American Anthony Kang (64) and Prayad Marksaeng of Thailand (65) in tie for fourth on 12-under.
Overnight leader Danny Chia of Malaysia struggled with a two-over 74 which dropped him back into a tie for seventh with Shiv Kapur of India (66) on 11-under.
Blyth, who has yet to record a victory in five seasons on the Asian Tour, trailed Chia by five strokes at the start of the round but picked up birdies on the first, fourth and seventh to move up the leaderboard.
The 27-year-old from Brisbane dropped a shot with a bogey on the tricky par-four eighth but consecutive birdies on the 10th and 11th and an eagle on the 13th saw him move into first place.
The Australian improved to 15-under with a birdie on the 15th but bogeyed the next to finish the round on 14-under-par.
Noren began the day on 10-under, three shots off the lead but moved ahead of Chia to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on the third, fourth and eighth.
The Swede kept pace with Blyth with his fourth birdie of the round on the 13th but dropped to 12 under following bogeys on the 15th and 17th. However a birdie at the last saw him draw level with Liang and within one shot of Blyth heading into the final round.
Liang, the Asian Tour Order of Merit winner two years ago, shot a steady 67 that included six birdies and a lone bogey.
Tunnicliff charged up the leaderboard after firing nine birdies in his bogey-free round of 63, which put him in contention for only his third win on the European Tour and first since the 2004 Diageo Championship at Gleneagles.
Having missed the cut in all four of his previous starts on the European Tour this season, Tunnicliff was naturally delighted with his third-round effort.
"I enjoyed that! It is the first time in a long time that it has come together so nicely," he said.
"I was struggling for the first three weeks of the year in the desert so I took a week's break in Dubai with the family and didn't touch a golf club. I just chilled out for the week and it seems to have worked because I came here a lot more excited about playing again.
"Today I just hit a lot of good shots and the putts dropped in when I needed them to."
