Further twists and turns were to follow. Distracted by a spectator, Finch pushed his tee-shot on 15 and bunkered his approach. He made a great sand save, while Castano missed a makeable birdie. On the par-3 16th Castano pushed his tee-shot way right, and took three to get down with a missed four-footer. From the back of the green, Finch made it a two-shot swing with a terrific 20-footer for birdie.
It was terrific stuff. On 17 Castano left himself another short putt from a greenside bunker, and again he missed. Now Finch was two shots clear on 8-under. Clearly furious with himself, the Spaniard hammered a drive and a fairway wood on the 18th past the pin and into another bunker. This time he knocked it dead for a certain birdie. Finch, who had played conservatively, left himself a long birdie putt from the center of the green, but it hung on the lip.
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Richard Finch tees off at 16 on the way to another birdie. [china.org.cn]
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"I'm really delighted with my round," said Finch later. "It was a slow start, then all of a sudden I was on a roll of six birdies. One more on 16 made for a very nice day." Asked how he would plan out tomorrow's round, he answered: "I've never been much of a one for making plans the night before. There are far too many variables - the weather, pin positions, what other players are doing - I prefer to take it as it comes."
So Finch and Castano will partner one another once more tomorrow, on 8 and 7-under. Hall will go out with Markus Brier on 5-under, and there are four on 4-under - David Dixon and Simon Dyson of England, Australia's Scott Strange, and the Thai Chapchai Nirat.
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Agony for Spain's Gonzalo Fernandez-Castrano - missing a tiddler on 17. [china.org.cn]
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Behind them are another four on 3-under, including Mark Brown. In principle one would say that these four are just too far behind, but there are two factors that could come into play. One is the weather – the forecast is for rain, possibly heavy, and where it falls and on whom could make a difference. The other is the fact that low scores have been so few and far between, and nobody has yet managed to post two – 2nd round leader Choi was three-over today for a 75, and is one of those on 3-under.
If any of those could put together a 65 tomorrow - which we now know is feasible - and if Finch and Castano slip up, which is also quite feasible, then any other pretender for victory will have to do better than 67 to win, a score that has only been improved on three times in the whole tournament.
For Brown, Choi, Storm and Mackenzie there is still everything to play for - let the final round of the 2009 Volvo China Open begin!
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Playing partners in the final pairing in the final round - Richard and Gonzalo share a smile. [china.org.cn]
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(China.org.cn April 19, 2009)
