Nanshan, China, Oct. 13 - Overnight leader Liang Wenchong inched further ahead of the field with a three-under-par 68 in the third round of OneAsia's U.S. $1 million Nanshan China Masters on Saturday despite a charge by Major winners Y.E. Yang and Louis Oosthuizen.
Rounds of 68, 67 and 68 left the home favourite at 10 under par for the tournament, two strokes ahead of Australian Aaron Townsend (69), who nearly aced the 17th to stay in the hunt.
Korean Yang (68), birdied the last to book his place in the final group, four shots off the pace. In 2009, at the PGA Championship, he made up a two-shot final-round deficit against Tiger Woods to win by three and become Asia's first Major winner.
Liang, who led by one overnight, is looking for his first title since winning twice on OneAsia in 2010 and was reminded of Yang's comeback after his round on Saturday.
"The tournament is not finished yet and no-one knows what will happen, but when I play it is only me," he said.
"I will focus on my own game."
Players have found scoring tough on the Nanshan International Golf Club's 6,539-metre (7,151-yard) Danling course, but Yang refuses to concede defeat.
"It's a little disappointing that I couldn't cut into the lead, but I've still got one day," he said. "Nothing is impossible. I'll try my hardest as it's definitely worth a shot. I'm not going to say it can't be done."
Between him and Liang, however, he still has to get past Townsend, who struck the flag with his tee shot on the par-three 17th and saw his ball stop an inch from the hole.
"That felt like a great shot, but the good ones never go in," he said.
"I'm looking forward to the round tomorrow and playing with Liang again. He played really good, and I'm really impressed. So to play with him and Yang tomorrow will be great."
Oosthuizen admitted victory was probably out of reach despite shooting 69 on Saturday, his best round of the week. The 2010 Open champion burned the hole half a dozen times, but just couldn't get the putts to drop.
"At the moment … I'm probably playing for third place," said the South African, who is one under for the tournament in joint 11th place, together with Indonesian Rory Hie who also shot a 69 in the third round.
"I feel like I'm playing well enough to have a five- or six-under round. I hit it really well today and gave myself lots of opportunities for birdie, but just didn't make any."
American Garrett Sapp and Australian Mitchell Brown -- who won a car with a hole-in-one on Friday -- both shot 67s for the rounds of the day to close at three and two under respectively.
The tournament venue is also home to the China Golf Association's new state-of-the-art National Training Centre and 19 Chinese players made the cut -- the most ever in a OneAsia event -- including 16-year old amateur Chen Zi-hao, who is five over for the tournament.
Their progress is being closely followed by Zhang Lianwei, considered the father of professional golf in China, who is competing in Macau this week.
"Even though I'm in Macau, I am paying attention to the Nanshan China Masters -- especially as China's players are making good scores," he said on the country's Weibo social media site.
"We have so many high level tournaments now, providing players with opportunities to move up, and I am happy for that."
Scores after round 3 of the 2012 Nanshan China Masters being played at the par 71, 6,539-metre (7,151-yard) Nanshan International Golf Club's Danling course (a- denotes amateur):
203 - LIANG Wenchong (CHN) 68-67-68.
205 - Aaron TOWNSEND (AUS) 69-67-69.
207 - Y. E. YANG (KOR) 71-68-68.
210 - Garrett SAPP (USA) 73-70-67, David MCKENDRICK (AUS) 70-70-70, WANG Jeung-hun (KOR) 69-71-70.
211 - Mitchell BROWN (AUS) 73-71-67, Terry PILKADARIS (AUS) 71-71-69, Scott LAYCOCK (AUS) 70-71-70, Jamie ARNOLD (AUS) 69-70-72.
212 - Michael HENDRY (NZL) 72-73-67, Rory HIE (INA) 74-69-69, Louis OOSTHUIZEN (RSA) 71-72-69, Gareth PADDISON (NZL) 70-69-73.
213 - Michael WRIGHT (AUS) 73-71-69, KIM Hyung-tae (KOR) 71-72-70, Andre STOLZ (AUS) 71-71-71.
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