Rose, Bjerregaard set up final round showdown in Hong Kong

HONG KONG (Reuters) – England’s Justin Rose and Dane Lucas Bjerregaard matched each other shot-for-shot during the third round at the Hong Kong Open on Saturday as the duo surged four strokes clear of the chasing pack heading into the final round.

World number seven Rose, who led Bjerregaard by a stroke at the halfway stage, holed two eagles and two birdies in a blemish-free round of six-under-par 64 to move to 15-under.

Bjerregaard, who has three top-10 finishes in the last month, improved his chances of a first European Tour title by carding a 63 with a bogey on the last putting him on level with 2013 U.S. Open champion Rose.

“It was great. I really enjoyed it out there with Justin. He’s a really good guy and we kept making birdies, especially around the turn,” Bjerregaard told reporters.

“Obviously it’s not fun to finish off any round with a bogey and especially not today. I hit a bad tee shot on 18 there, pretty much my only bad shot of the day.

“So not the way I wanted to finish, but still, I’m very happy with the round today.”

Rose bagged an eagle three on the par-five third and repeated the feat on the 13th before he followed that up with his second birdie of the day on the next hole.

“Lucas played unbelievable golf today,” Rose said. “I actually didn’t know much about his game and first, he’s a lovely guy and second, he can really play.

“I hung with him and what impressed me today was the couple of par saves that I had to make and rolled.”

India’s Anirban Lahiri (65), the leader on Asian Tour’s order of merit, made the turn at even-par but gained five shots on the back nine to sit in third spot on 11-under.

His compatriot Jeev Milkha Singh and British Masters winner Matthew Fitzpatrick were tied for fourth spot, a further shot adrift.

(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; Editing by John O’Brien)