Arjun Atwal returned a flawless seven-under 65 to rise to tied second and be just one shot behind sole leader Australian Brendan Jones after three rounds in the USD three million B C Open Golf tournament in Endicott on Sunday.
Atwal, who has twice been in a position to gun for a title this season put himself up in similar situation once more as he aggregated 18-under 198 sharing the three-way second place with Ryan Palmer (67) and Jason Bohn (68).
The only Indian on the PGA tour, who has made cuts in each of 11 starts this year, was in for sharing the lead but damaged his prospects by missing a putt from four feet on the closing 18th hole.
Paired for the final round together, both Atwal, a two-time European Tour winner, and Jones, a four-time Japan Tour winner, are looking for their maiden title on the PGA Tour. Also, they are in the lead group of a PGA Tour event for the first time.
Atwal was in good nick as he started out with a birdie on second and added two more on fifth and sixth. A par followed and then he ended the front nine with two more birdies on eighth and ninth to be five-under at the turn and really looking set for a very low score.
The birdies dried up for a while, as he missed a couple of close putts. A birdie on the 12th and 16th saw him end the day at a bogey-free seven-under 65 at the short and narrow En-Joie Golf Club course.
Play was halted by rain for 90 minutes early afternoon, but the delay had little effect on the forgiving layout.
