Rosales shoots 5-under par as storm halts play

Kuala Lumpur — A lightning storm abruptly halted Gerald Rosales’ fiery comeback as the ace Filipino shotmaker turned in a five-under par card when play was stopped in the third round of the rich Carlsberg Malaysian Open at the Mines Resort & Golf Club here.

Starting the round at the backside, the 26-year-old Rosales strung up four birdies for a 32 and rolled in another birdie putt on No. 2 when play was suspended late afternoon. From a share of 46th place at 140 after 36 holes, the former Philippine Open champion found himself tying provisionally for 18th place with a running seven-under card.

But that was too far behind Arjun Atwal of India, who bolted into a four-shot lead over world number five Retief Goosen with a two-under-par after eight holes of the third round.

Goosen, the reigning two-time European Tour number one, was one-under for his round while Thailand’s Thammanoon Srirot joined the South African star on 13-under for the tournament by cruising to three-under after eight holes.

The third round will resume at 8 a.m. today.

The fourth round, which will use the same pairings as today, is scheduled to start at 9.45 a.m. with the last pairing set to start at 11.50 a.m.

Over in Gold Coast, Australia, Jennifer Rosales continued to dish out great games as she shot a four-under par 68 to trail fancied Karrie Webb by four strokes in the rain-shortened Australian Ladies Masters.

Play was abandoned Saturday with 16 groups completing their second rounds early before the course was judged unplayable. After several postponements, the third round was declared a wash-out in the early afternoon.

Webb fired a 66 to lead the event with 134 with Laura Davies in second with a 135 after a 68.

Rosales carded a 70 in the opening round and tied Johanna Head of England (66) and Gladys Nocera of France (67) in eighth place with 138.