World number five Retief Goosen held on to his one-shot lead over US Open champion Michael Campbell after an engrossing third-round duel at the Volkswagen Masters-China on Saturday.
Goosen, who has led after every round of the 300,000-dollar tournament, twice fell behind but Campbell bogeys on holes 15 and 17 returned him to the top of the leaderboard at 14 under par after his round of 71.
Australians David Bransdon and Adam Blyth were two shots back from Campbell for a share of third while Gary Simpson was 10-under for fifth in the Asian Tour event at Jinghua Golf Club. China's Zhang Lian Wei shared sixth with American Ron Won.
Goosen and Campbell both started well with matching birdies on the third hole but then failed to spark, with Campbell bogeying the par-three fifth, where he missed the green and fluffed his chip.
Campbell briefly took the lead when Goosen found two bunkers on the seventh and hit a tee shot left of the eighth green for consecutive bogeys, but the Kiwi knocked a drive into the crowd along the ninth fairway to slip back to level-pegging.
The two Major-winners, with three of the last five US Open titles between them, battled it out up the back nine with two birdies apiece before Campbell regained the lead with a 10-foot putt on the 14th after Goosen's wayward drive.
However, Campbell's two bogeys put Goosen back on top as he matched the South African's score with a 71 on the par-72, 7,211-yard course.
Australia's Bransdon carded an eagle on seven to pick up a blistering six shots by the turn but could not add to his score on the back nine and returned to the clubhouse at six under for the tournament.
India's Arjun Singh matched Bransdon for the round of the day with a six-under 66 which gave him a share of ninth.
The Volkswagen Masters-China is the first event of the second half of this year's Asian Tour with another 14 tournaments scheduled before the end of the year.
LEADING THIRD-ROUND SCORES (China unless stated):
202 - Retief Goosen (RSA) 64-67-71
203 - Michael Campbell (NZL) 67-65-71
205 - David Bransdon (AUS) 71-68-66, Adam Blyth (AUS) 69-68-68
206 - Gary Simpson (AUS) 66-68-72
207 - Zhang Lian Wei 69-68-70, Ron Won (USA) 69-69-69
208 - Mardan Mamat (SIN) 71-70-67, Lin Wen Tang (TPE) 70-70-68, Lu Wen Teh (TPE) 68-72-68
209 - Anura Rohana (SRI) 70-71-68, Scott Barr (AUS) 70-69-70, Gary Rusnak (USA) 67-71-71
210 - Arjun Singh (IND) 75-69-66, Adam Groom (AUS) 72-69-69, Andrew Buckle (AUS) 69-69-72
Selected:
212 - Thaworn Wiratchant (THA) 72-69-71
213 - Li Chao (CHN) 68-75-70
215 - Rahil Gangjee (IND) 72-73-70.
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