Golf: Former paratrooper drops in to lead

Thong Chai Jaidee, the Thai golfer who learned to play golf with a stick with a discarded five iron clubhead tied to it, continued to keep illustrious rivals like Thomas Bjorn, Padraig Harrington, Miguel Angel Jimenez and New Zealand Open winner Niclas Fasth at bay in the Carlsberg Malaysian Open last night.

Jaidee is an unusual story in a sport which usually features golfers who have come up through club, age group and amateur championship play.

He was born into an army family and eventually became a paratrooper - becoming one of the few professional golfers to drop into the sport that way.

As a child, Jaidee lived next door to a golf course. But it was football that captured his dreams and he yearned to play for Thailand and represented his home province before a freak accident curtailed his career.

It was during recuperation from a foot injury, caused when he was skewered by a piece of wood, that Jaidee took his trusty bamboo stick with the five-iron head and sneaked onto the Army golf course.

He became a professional at the age of 30 and won the Malaysian Open last year - his first win on the European Tour - and is on course to repeat the win this year.

In the third round yesterday, Jaidee blazed seven strokes clear with a brilliant 67 - to go with his 67 and 66 previously. He birdied four out of the last nine holes to set up a likely victory today. Jaidee's 67 gave him a total of 19 under par. His closest rival was India's Jyoti Randhawa who rocketed up the field with a round of 65 but was still six strokes away.

Harrington, third, was seven strokes back, Bjorn eight while Fasth was nine strokes down. Jimenez, the winner of the European PGA Volvo Order of Merit last year, was 11 strokes away.

Jaidee suffered a bogey at the 18th to mar an otherwise sizzling round. Fasth, who won the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour in a play-off with England's Miles Tunnicliff, started strongly but four bogeys in seven holes saw him drop away.

- REUTERS