Hong Kong Open: Wade Ormsby inches closer to a wire-to-wire triumph as big guns vow to go out blazing on final day

“Moving day” certainly lived up to its billing on day three of the Hong Kong Open in Fanling when a chunk of the field emerged from the chasing pack to challenge leader Wade Ormsby.

For his part, Ormsby was again close to flawless meaning his pursuers will need another monumental day of movement on Sunday to prise the tournament trophy from his grip.

The Australian, who carded a second straight round of 66 to move to 13-under par for the tournament, was forced to dig deep at times on Saturday to keep his victory parade on route. He consistently rose to the challenge.

One 30-foot putt from the fringe of the ninth green that slithered its way in to save par on the heels of his first dropped shot of the day was a stand-out moment. As was his remarkable eagle on the par-five third.

The Australian has steadily built the air of a champion this week and still looks the best bet to take the winners check on Sunday night, as he has done since Thursday.

“My game is in good shape,” said the 2017 champion. “I feel I’m in a good spot mentally and hope to continue.

“I just keep doing what I’m doing. There’s no reason to change what I’m doing, people are chasing me. If I can do it, fine, I just have to keep doing my thing.”

British Open champion Shane Lowry endured a somewhat frustrating day.

An afternoon of near misses for the Irishman was compounded by missed putts on the 17th and 18th, which yielded his first bogey of the day and a missed opportunity for a closing birdie respectively.

“I stayed very patient and I didn’t really get rewarded at the very end,” said Lowry, who signed for a two-under-par 68 that included three birdies and a bogey. “I felt like I played nice but just didn’t hole anything on the greens. I holed one putt on the 15th but other than that ... I felt like I was hitting good putts, but all week it’s been like that – I’ve played lovely golf, but I haven’t really holed anything.”

Acknowledging he may have given himself a little too much to do to catch Ormsby, the Irishman was frustrated with his bogey on the penultimate hole.

“Seventeen was obviously a little disappointing because I might be too far back. But you never know, I could shoot six- or seven-under tomorrow, which is out there the way I’m playing. If I can manage to hole a few putts early on tomorrow and keep it going, you never know what could happen.”

In contrast to Lowry, the other star attraction at this week’s event enjoyed his best day of the week and heads into Sunday high on confidence.

American Tony Finau managed to fire himself into contention, after two lukewarm rounds to kick off the week, with a sublime knock of five-under par 65 that catapulted him into a share of ninth place, albeit still six shots off leader Ormsby. But Finau is confident he can spring an upset on Sunday.

“I played well. I had some looks, which is all you can ask for,” Finau said. “I didn’t make as many as I could have, but overall I’m back in this thing and I’ve got 18 holes to shoot ’em up. I knew I had to shoot a good score and now I’m back in it.

“We’ll have to see what the leaders do but no matter what, I’m going to have to shoot a good round tomorrow.

“I’ll have to play aggressively, I’ve got nothing to lose. I think 62 or 63 will go a long way tomorrow and that’s what I’ll be aiming for.”

The two players who best personified “moving day” were India’s Rashid Khan and Australian Terry Pilkadaris, who signed for day’s best rounds of 63 and 64 respectively to move to nine-under par for the week, into a share of third place and championship consideration on Sunday.

Khan’s fabulous 63 included no less than eight birdies as well as a solitary bogey and was further impressive given the 28-year-old began the week feeling under the weather.

“I was amazed when I finished the round,” Khan said. “I didn’t have any expectations. To be honest, when I played the last tournament I wasn’t playing very well. I was too tired after playing many tournaments last year – especially at the end of the year – and only had one week off. When I came to Hong Kong on Tuesday, I wasn’t very well. I wasn’t expecting this.”

Elsewhere, Hong Kong’s teenaged amateur Alexander Yang maintained his incredible performance at the Hong Kong Golf Club this week when he shot his best round of the tournament in signing for a three-under-par 67. That leaves him at five-under-par for the championship going into the final round.