Date: November 02, 2008
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Brown still in the hunt

Australian Mitchell Brown lies two shots behind Sweden&aposs Niclas Fasth after the third round of the Iskandar Johor Open. Brown, the joint halfway leader, overcame a scrappy start before settling for a 72 at the Royal Johor Country Club. Fasth, however, had three straight birdies in his two-under 70 to move to 10-under and snatch a one-shot lead over Thailand&aposs Thaworn Wiratchant. Malaysia&aposs Iain Steel (70) and Australia&aposs Kane Webber (70) are tied for fourth at seven-under. “It was a fantastic putt to finish, said Fasth. “I had good feelings walking off that green. That was the first time I had a putt of two and half feet that broke a foot.” “I couldn&apost risk having a run at it as it could have ended off the green.” “It was the kind of day when nothing happened and it was a matter of being strong and hanging in there.” “I got a chance to birdie the 16th and I thought if I could hole this one, it would fire me up. And it did as I birdied the last two holes. It was a very strong finish and I was proud of it.” Thai veteran Thaworn traded one birdie against a bogey on his outward nine before knocking in three birdies in four holes from the 12th to give himself a chance of an 11th career victory. “I had some luck. Everyone was making birdies on the 11th hole which played easy but I didn&apost birdie that hole. However, I chipped in at the 12th, so it was my lucky day,” said the Bangkok Airways Open winner. “The greens are difficult. It&aposs very hard to read the greens and hole putts. You need a lot of luck. Sometimes you hit a bad putt and you hole it and it can go the other way round as well. I&aposll need to have a good game plan.” Two-time major winner Retief Goosen (69) will head into the final round four shots adrift of the leader alongside Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand (73) and Australian duo Richard Moir (70) and Adam Groom (69). Goosen produced an outward three-under-par 33, but failed to improve and was forced to settle for a second successive 69. “Anything can happen,” he said. “I can shoot six or seven under but the leader can shoot six under and it won&apost mean anything. I&aposm just going to go out and do my best and put a good number on the leaderboard.” “The putting is not quite there but I&aposm hitting the ball a lot better.”