Wilson takes third-round lead in Shanghai

Nov 9, 2008 - 7:14 AM By Andrew Mullen Special to PA SportsTicker

SHANGHAI, China (Ticker) -- Oliver Wilson put himself in contention for his maiden career title after carding a third round 3-under-par 69 to open up a one-stroke lead over former U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy at the rain-affected HSBC Champions on Sunday.

The 28-year-old began the second round a shot back of Ryder Cup regulars Sergio Garcia and Henrik Stenson. While the veterans managed level-par rounds of 72 to fall back into third place, Wilson carded just one bogey at a bright Sheshan International Golf Club to sit at the top of the leaderboard at 12-under-par.

Ogilvy, who had began his third round at the disrupted event on Saturday, followed up his second round 65 with a third round 70 in windy conditions.

World number two and defending champion Phil Mickelson shares third place with Garcia and Stenson after signing for a second consecutive 2-under-par 70.

After Friday's play was washed out, the field will begin their fourth rounds on Sunday but will return on Monday to decide the winner of the $5 million season-opening showpiece - dubbed Asia's major.

Wilson is playing at the Champions event courtesy of his Order of Merit ranking after finishing runner-up four times in 2008, which includes losing a play-off to Miguel Angel Jimenez at The BMW PGA Championship.

"I am very pleased with the position I am in," Wilson said. "Anytime you lead it is the best position you can be in. I am happy to be there, I am playing very nicely, very solid and hopefully that can continue.

"It was a tough day, definitely the toughest day we've had so far. It was cold this morning and some of the longer par 4s played into the wind so they were tough and also the pin positions were pretty tough as well."

After carding a second 7-under-par round Saturday, Ogilvy played two holes of his third round that night and in the fading light dropped a shot to slip back to 8-under.

After reaching the turn one over, he picked up three shots on the back nine to sit at 11-under after 54 holes.

"I've played very nicely this morning," Ogilvy said. "I had a rough start last night as I bogeyed the first and got a par at the second, which felt like two bogeys, and it was a frustrating way to end yesterday."

"Today, I finally made a birdie at 11, then had an up-and-down back nine but ended up having quite a few birdies with a couple of bogeys."

Stenson fell down the leaderboard after reaching the turn 2-over-par before making amends on the way home with two birdies, while Garcia had moved two clear of world number two Mickelson, Wilson and Ogilvy at the turn before dropping two shots on the way home.

A win for the Spaniard on Monday would see world number three Garcia overtake Mickelson in the world rankings.