Golf: Brown remains in contention

New Zealand golfer Mark Brown is quietly confident of upsetting his more fancied rivals and capturing the Hong Kong Open.

Brown holed a 40-foot putt for birdie at the 17th and then saved par with a 15-foot gem at the last to sign for a five-under par 65 and a 14-under par tally after three rounds of the European Tour event on the suburban Fanling course today.

England's Ian Poulter birdied his closing two holes in a six-under par 64 to finish two strokes clear of the field at 19-under par.

Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell is in second place at 17-under par after the reigning US Open champion drove the green at the shortened par four, 10th hole and then holed his 30-foot eagle putt.

McDowell then birdied three holes in succession from the 13th in a round of a seven-under par 63, but still under a `preferred lie' rule.

Poulter started his third round leading by one but soon found himself well clear after a birdie at two and an third-hole eagle.

But the World No 14 then stalled with 14 straight pars before a 13th hole birdie ahead of birdies at 17 and the last.

Brown started the third day four strokes behind Poulter and despite a second hole bogey, the Lower Hutt player then birdied three holes in a row.

He managed to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker at the third for birdie before putting a sand-wedge to just six inches at the next while he holed a downhill 20-foot birdie putt from the back of the green at the fifth.

Birdies then followed at 10, 13 and 17 to give Brown the best chance of claiming victory since capturing the 2008 Johnnie Walker Classic in India.

"If I can get off to a really good start and post some early birdies, then you never know," Brown told NZPA.

"This is a golf course, as we've seen already this week, is yielding plenty of birdies and while you have to be playing well to give yourself those chances, I know I am going to need a lot of them tomorrow.

"I have been putting well for the three rounds and that's been the key to my rounds this week, so that makes a nice change.

"That was evident at 17 and 18 because to hole that putt at 17 was a real bonus, and then to hole that par putt on 18 has kept me in there.

"But then if I can have a good finish tomorrow, whether that's to win or not, it would still be a nice way to end my season."

England's Simon Dyson (65) will start the last round in third place at 16-under par while Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy (66) and Korean-born American Antony Kang (67) are in fourth spot at 15-under par.

- NZPA