AIRIL Rizman (pic and S. Sivachandhran will tee-off in the final round of the RM400,000 Salcon Negeri Masters Invitational with high hopes as the Malaysian duo ended the third round in first and second place respectively.

Airil, who was four strokes adrift going into the third round, carded a five-under 67 with six birdies against one bogey to move up six spots to the top of the leaderboard. The 30-year-old golfer has a three-day total of 11-under 205.

Sivachandhran, who was second on Friday, managed to cling on to his position with a 71 for a three-day total of 10-under 206. However, Siva has yet to win a professional title since turning professional in 2006.

"I'm pretty happy I didn't miss that many shots today (yesterday). I hope to play the way I played the past few days and we will see how it goes," said Airil, who nailed birdies on the first, third, sixth, seventh, 11th and 18th holes.


Siva started off well, maintaining his one-under score until the seventh where his ball found the pond.

"I recovered with a bogey on that hole and my game started to pick up after my birdie on the 11th," said the 29-year-old Sivachandhran, who hails from Kedah.

First and second day leader, Attaporn Prathummanee of Thailand, lost his lead after posting one-over 73 for a three-day total of 207.

LEADING 3rd rd scores: 205 Airil Rizman (Mas) 67-71-67; 206 S. Sivachandhran (Mas) 70-65-71; 207 A. Prathummanee (Thai) 65-69-73; 208 Udorn Duangdecha (Thai) 70-72-66, Benjie Magada (Phil) 69-67-72.

209 Tony Lascuna (Phil) 67-71-71, Maan Nasim (Indon) 70-67-72; 210 Ebarra Quiachon (Phil) 70-67-73; 211 M. Sasidaran (Mas) 69-74-68, Shaaban Hussein (Mas) 71-71-69.