Spluttering Spieth three off the pace

World number one Jordan Spieth stayed in hunt for the SMBC Singapore Open title yesterday after narrowing the gap to leader Song Young-Han of South Korea before fading light halted play.
The American had two more holes to complete and trailed Song by three strokes at the Sentosa Golf Club when the horn sounded for the remaining flights to return to the clubhouse. Three other players are also hot on the heels of the South Korean in the $1.0 million tournament.
China’s Liang Wen-Chong trails by a stroke, and Japan’s Shintaro Kobayashi and South African Keith Horne by two.
The last flight that included Song completed only 13 holes, and a total of 15 players will return to the Serapong Course today morning to resume play before the start of the final round.
Spieth, 22, had a mixed day, playing the remaining 12 holes that were carried over from Friday after play was halted due to inclement weather. The Texan finished the round with three birdies and two bogeys.
“The bogey did hurt on the last,” said the US Open and Masters champion before heading for the penultimate round.
Spieth is playing without regular caddie Michael Greller, who is recovering from an ankle injury sustained at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in Hawaii earlier this month. His agent, Jay Danzi, is standing in as Greller’s replacement.
“I made all my putts inside six feet yesterday but missed five or six today. I’ve just got to get comfortable on the shorter length putts,” said Spieth, who is playing in Singapore for the first time.
“These kinds of delays (due to bad weather) have happened before, in professional and college golf, you have to get used to it. Gotta be prepared to play a lot of golf.”
Spieth’s erratic form continued in round three. Despite two birdies in the first nine, he struggled to find the fairway from the tees, hit the bunker four times and failed to make par on the fifth hole.
Although he was hit by another bogey in the home stretch, Speith’s form kicked in.
His drives found their mark and the short game found the putts, hitting another birdie on the 12th hole.
Song failed to make any headway, after putting in an outstanding round the previous day, with bogeys in the fifth and 11th holes cancelling out the two birdies he shot on the third and fourth.

Woodland, Choi lead as big names miss Torrey Pines cut
Closing-hole birdies from American Gary Woodland and South Korean KJ Choi lifted them into a share of the second-round lead at the Farmers Insurance Open outside San Diego on Friday as a host of big names missed the cut.
While defending champion Jason Day, world number four Rickie Fowler and local favourite Phil Mickelson all failed to advance at Torrey Pines, Woodlands and Choi fired matching five-under-par 67s to finish at nine-under 135.
Long-hitting Dustin Johnson was alone in third at eight under after a 66, one stroke in front of fellow Americans Scott Brown (71) and Billy Horschel (70), and Scotland’s Martin Laird (68).
Veteran Choi, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour who has not triumphed on the circuit since the 2011 Players Championship, birdied three of his last five holes on the easier North Course to move joint top.
“My putting hasn’t been too good inside 15-20 feet, but today I made five or six outside 15 feet,” Choi, 45, told Golf Channel.
“I heard the weekend will be very windy and rainy, so I’m hoping my imagination, my driving and putting will be stable.”
Power hitter Woodlands, winless on the PGA Tour since the 2013 Reno-Tahoe Open, piled up five birdies on his front nine to reach the turn in a flawless five-under 31. Though he stumbled late on with bogeys at the 16th and 17th, he rebounded by getting up-and-down from a greenside bunker to birdie the par-five 18th on the challenging South layout.
“The way I’m driving the ball right now, I’m very comfortable with my golf swing,” said Woodlands, who made an equipment change during the off-season.
Australian world number two Day withdrew from the pro-am competition on Wednesday because of a virus he picked up last Friday and was unable to practise ahead of his title defence until his warm-up session for Thursday’s opening round.
“That was the frustrating part, knowing that I wasn’t able to prepare the way I wanted to,” said Day, who followed his first-round 72 with a two-over 74 to miss the cut by three strokes.
“I’m not trying to make any excuses. I’m just looking forward to getting over this virus that has run through our family.”
American Fowler, who won the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship on Sunday, almost holed a greenside bunker shot on his final hole but had to settle for a closing par and a 71 that left him one shot outside the cutline.
Mickelson bogeyed four of his last six holes for a 76 and a one-over total. On his ninth hole, a wild second shot ended up in a car park but his ball bounced back underneath an iron fence marking out-of-bounds, thereby saving him a penalty stroke.
To play his third shot there, the American left-hander walked to the car park side of the fence to make a swing from where he banged his club on the fence before finishing up with a double-bogey seven.