Jeev drops to tied 17th
despite 2-under 70

Jeev Milkha Singh shot a two-under 70 on the third day of the 120-million-yen Sun Chlorella Classic, but that could not help him climb up the leaderboard on a day of low scores at the par-72 Sapporo Bay Golf Club in Hokkaido, Japan.

The Hero Honda Motors-sponsored golfer aggregated nine-under 207 after 54 holes and was tied for the 17th place.

American Christian Pena shot his third successive round in the 60s, a six-under 66, to lead the tournament on the Japanese PGA Tour. Pena had rounds of 67 each on the opening two days and was 16-under 200 for the tournament.

Overnight leader Hideki Kase and Naomichi Ozaki (both Japan) were two strokes behind the leader at 14-under 202. Kase shot a three-under 69, while Ozaki finished the day at four-under 68.

Jeev started in solid fashion and made birdies on the par-5 first, par-4 second and the fourth hole to go three-under at that stage. A bogey on the ninth saw him make the turn at two-under. On the back nine, the 30-year-old Chandigarh pro made bogeys on the 13th and 16th holes and birdies on the 14th and 18th.

SCORES (after 54 holes): 200 _ Christian Pena (67,67,66); 202 _ Hideki Kase (70,63,69), Naomichi Ozaki (67,67,68); 203 _ Tsuneyuki Nakajima (68,68,67); 204 _ Tateo Ozaki (70,68,66), Brendan Jones (66,68,70), Tze Chung Chen (69,66,69), Toru Taniguchi (67,69,68); Jong Duck-kim (68,70,66), Hirofumi Miyase (70,70,64), Shinichi Yokota (70,68,66)

Earlier reports
Jeev stays in contention with a one-under 71
Jeev placed second after six-under 66 round