Ace Indian golfer Arjun Atwal increased his lead over world No 5 Retief Goosen of South Africa, but was frustrated by yet another thunderstorm that forced suspension of play for third day running at the US$-1.1 million Carlsberg Malaysian Open, a joint sanctioned event of the European and Asian PGA Tours, at the spectacular par-71 Mines Resort & Golf Club course, on Saturday.
The Kolkata-based Atwal, who won the Caltex Singapore Masters last year in his rookie season on the European Tour, finished his second round in the morning and then returned for the third round play. When thunderstorm stopped play, the 30-year-old Indian was cruising along at two-under par after eight holes, which gave him a tournament tally of 17-under.
The leading group had just completed the eighth hole of the third round when the klaxon sounded at 17.45 local time with Atwal picking up two birdies to move four strokes clear of world number five Retief Goosen and Thailand's Thammanoon Srirot.
The third round will resume on Sunday morning and players will then go out for the final round in the same groups as Saturday.
Earlier, Atwal added a second round of 65 to his opening 62 for a 15 under par total of 127, the lowest 36 hole score of the season on both European and Asian PGA Tours. What has been particularly impressive about the Indian is the fact that he has not made a single bogey so far in the tournament.
Among the other Indians, Arjun Singh was tied 18th at seven-under after 11 holes, while Amandeep Johl was in joint 24th place at six-under after 12 holes. Harmeet Kahlon was in 59th place at two-under. Sweden's Daniel Chopra was tied for the fourth place at 11-under after nine.
Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa missed the cut by two shots after being one-over 143 in 36 holes. Vijay Kumar also missed the cut.
"I am not bothered by this delay," said Atwal. "I played 11 holes in the morning and eight in the afternoon so I am not too upset. I would have liked to have finished but there was no way that was possible. I am still hitting it well and it is nice to be four in front. This is what you practice for.
"I'm concentrating well and keeping myself relaxed. I keep telling myself I have been in this situation before and that I've won four times on the Asian PGA Tour. If someone is going to beat me, he has got to shoot better than me. I don't want to beat myself," added the confident Atwal.
Goosen, Europe's No 1 player for the past two seasons, was impressed by Atwal. "Arjun is playing really well," he said. "I didn't play that solid today so hopefully it will be a bit better tomorrow. The greens are tricky and I have just got to get a few things going. Arjun has holed some good putts so is obviously reading the greens very well. But tomorrow is another day. Hopefully, I can give myself a half chance but it is going to be tough."
Arjun Singh made birdies on the third and eighth holes, but dropped back to tied-18th place at seven-under with a dropped shot on the ninth hole. The Delhi golfer had completed 11 holes when weather disrupted play. Johl, who recently recorded his first victory after nine years during the Sir Padampat Singhania Open last week at Noida, made a birdie on the fourth and a bogey on the 12th to be level-par for the day after 12 holes. That put him in tied 23rd place at six-under.
Kahlon started his third round with a bogey on the tenth hole, but recovered with birdies on the 15th and 17th holes to be one-under for the day after nine holes and progress to tied 59th place from his tied-66th at the start of the round.
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