Date: February 23, 2008
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Kiwi Brown sails into lead

New Zealand&aposs Mark Brown carded a five-under-par 67 to take sole lead of the inaugural SAIL Open after the third round on Friday as Australian Scott Hend finds himself just off the pace. Brown hit six birdies and just one bogey to lead Hend and Welshman Rhys Davies by a single stroke in Noida. Hend carded a three-under-par 69 while Davies shot a 67 to keep themselves firmly in contention ahead of Saturday&aposs final round. Jyoti Randhawa, who had started the day joint overnight leader alongside Aussie Tony Carolan, dropped down the leaderboard after carding a 72 and is tied for fourth, two strokes off the top. He is joined by Danny Chia of Malaysia and Australian Adam Groom. “I had a good season last year and finished in 15th place on the Order of Merit and this year has been a decent start where I was tied fifth in Indonesia (last week) and 35th in the Indian Masters,” Brown said on the Asian Tour&aposs official website. “The leaderboard is pretty congested and I like to attack. There is not much trouble on the course and it all depends on your club selection.” For the rest of the Australian contingent, Kane Webber (68) also enjoyed a productive day and is just behind Groom on eight under overall for the tournament, one stroke ahead of compatriots Carolan, who will be disappointed with his 75 after two excellent opening rounds, and Peter Cook (71). New Zealander Richard Lee fired a three-under 69 but still finds himself at six under for the tournament while Australian Neven Basic (72) is a further stroke back. Third Round of the Sail Open (Par 72): -11: Mark Brown (New Zealand) 69 69 67 -10: Scott Hend (Australia) 67 70 69, Rhys Davies 70 69 67 -9: Danny Chia 68 70 69, Jyoti Randhawa 67 68 72, Adam Groom (Australia) 67 71 69, Gaganjeet Bullar 70 68 69 -8: Kane Webber (Australia) 70 70 68 -7: Seung-yul Noh 68 70 71, Mardan Mamat 71 69 69, Te-chang Wang 69 67 73 -6: Angelo Que 68 70 72, Tony Caroloan (Australia) 66 69 75, Peter Cook (Australia) 67 72 71, Ashok Kumar 70 69 71, Richard Lee (New Zealand) 72 69 69 -5: Ted Oh 73 66 72, Adam Blyth (Australia) 71 71 69, Neven Basic (Australia) 70 69 72, Lloyd Saltman 70 75 66 Also: -2: Jason King (Australia) 74 67 73 -1: David Bransdon (Australia) 70 75 70, Richard Moir (Australia) 72 68 75 E: Kevin Chun (New Zealand) 74 68 74 +1: Gavin Flint (Australia) 71 71 75 +2: Henry Epstein (Australia) 72 71 75