Singapore out in front at golf W. Cup qualifying

Singapore's Lam Chih Bing and Mardan Mamat shot a five-under-par 66 on Friday to stay on track for a fifth World Cup appearance but India closed the gap to one shot in Asian qualifying. The duo fired six birdies and had one bogey in the third round's fourball format but India's rising stars Gaganjeet Bhullar and Anirban Lahiri had two eagles in a flawless 64 at the Seri Selangor Golf Club in Malaysia. Seventeen two-man teams have teed-up with the aim of becoming one of three countries to join top golfers at the 28-nation biennial Omega Mission Hills World Cup, which will take place November 24-27 at Hainan Island in China. Lam and Mardan, with a 14-under-par 199 total, are five shots clear from Malaysia and New Zealand who lie in joint third place but they are not taking their lead for granted. "We still have a lot of work to do," said Lam, who qualified for the World Cup with Mardan at Seri Selangor in 2006 and 2009. "There are a lot of good teams behind us. It is not in the bag yet but obviously we are in a good position and need to go out tomorrow and get the job done." Lahiri, aiming to qualify for his first World Cup with Bhullar, fired the team's first eagle of the day on the par five fifth before Bhullar sank a second eagle on the 13th from six feet. "We played solid. It was a good improvement for us in the last two days. We didn't drop a shot which was good. I played very well on the front nine and Gaganjeet was unstoppable on the back. Overall, it was a great team effort," said Lahiri, winner of the Panasonic Open on the Asian Tour earlier this year.Malaysia's pairing of Shaaban Hussin and Iain Steel bounced back with a superb 63 for a 204 total to share third with New Zealand's Michael Hendry and Gareth Paddison, who returned a 64. "We managed to crawl to our current position and we are happy. The middle part of the round was a bit boring but we managed to hit it closer in the second half," said Steel, an Asian Tour regular. The veteran team of Mars Pucay and Antonio Lascuna of the Philippines posted a brilliant 63 to surge up to tied fifth on the leader board with Koreans Kim Hyung-sung and Park Sung-joon (67) on 206. Third round totals, after play on Friday. Par 71 199 - Singapore (Lam Chih-Bing, Mardan Mamat) 63-70-66 200 - India (Gaganjeet Bhullar, Anirban Lahiri) 67-69-64 204 - Malaysia (Iain Steel, Shaaban Hussin) 64-77-63, New Zealand (Michael Hendry, Gareth Paddison) 65-75-64 206 - Philippines (Mars Pucay, Antonio Lascuna) 70-73-63, Korea (Kim Hyung-Sung, Park Sung-Joon) 70-69-67 210 - Pakistan (Muhammad Munir, Mohd Shabbir Iqbal) 68-76-66, Sri Lanka (Anura Rohana, Mithun Perera) 70-70-70 215 - Myanmar (Zaw Moe, Nay Bala Win Myint) 66-84-65 216 - Indonesia (Burhan Bora, Hardjito) 73-75-68, Taiwan (Tseng Hua-yen, Lin Kuan Po) 68-79-69 220 - Hong Kong (Wong Woon-Man, William Fung) 73-78-69 222 - Vietnam (Michael Tran, Nguyen Thai Duong) 76-78-68, Ghana (Stephen Kwame Klah, Godwin Sai 77-76-69 226 Senegal (Gueye Diadji, Niang Samba) 74-83-69 236 - Brunei (Pengiran Hassanal, Moksin Jinaidi) 78-83-75