Trio share lead heading into final round in Kuala Lumpur

India’s rising star Shubhankar Sharma dropped just one stroke in third round

Shubhankar Sharma of India walks with Gary Woodland during the third round of the 2018 CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur. Photograph: Getty Images
Shubhankar Sharma of India walks with Gary Woodland during the third round of the 2018 CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur. Photograph: Getty Images

Australian Marc Leishman, American Gary Woodland and India's rising star Shubhankar Sharma share the lead heading into the final round of the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

Leishman protected his position at the top of the leaderboard overnight following a 67, which included an eagle at the third after finding a bunker in a fast start, to sit at 19 under.

The 22-year-old Sharma, meanwhile, dropped just one stroke at the par-three 15th to sign for a 66 at TPC Kuala Lumpur.

Woodland had been in a share of the halfway lead following an 11-under-par 61 to tie the course record on Friday.

READ SOME MORE

The American looked to have seen his hopes of keeping in front ended after a costly bogey at the 14th, but then picked up a shot on the par-five final hole, just missing an eagle chance, to finish at five-under for the round.

South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen moved up to a tie for fourth place with a 65 to leave him at 17 under alongside American Bronson Burgoon.

Veteran American Stewart Cink, 45, fired himself into contention with a flawless 63 to tie for seventh, four off the lead, after nine birdies.

England's Paul Casey had been just one stroke off the lead at the halfway stage, making his first start since helping Europe regain the Ryder Cup in Paris.

Casey, though, dropped some 10 places on Saturday following a 71 to end at 14 under after bogeys at the 11th and 15th.

Justin Thomas, aiming to win the event for the third time in four years, is some seven shots off the lead after a hitting a second straight 69.

Collated third round scores in the CIMB Classic (USA unless stated, par 72):

197 Shubhankar Sharma (Ind) 67 64 66, Marc Leishman (Aus) 68 62 67, Gary Woodland 69 61 67

199 Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa) 66 68 65, Bronson Burgoon 63 69 67

200 Austin Cook 64 68 68

201 Nick Watney 66 67 68, Emiliano Grillo (Arg) 66 68 67, J.B. Holmes 67 67 67, Chesson Hadley 67 68 66, Stewart Cink 68 70 63, Charles Howell III 69 67 65

202 Kevin Na 68 67 67, Paul Casey (Eng) 66 65 71

203 Joel Dahmen 66 68 69, Abraham Ancer (Mex) 67 68 68, Beau Hossler 72 65 66, Scott Piercy 65 67 71

204 Justin Thomas 66 69 69, Cameron Smith (Aus) 69 69 66, Byeong-Hun An (Kor) 66 70 68, Kevin Chappell 66 67 71, Si Woo Kim (Kor) 67 71 66

205 Keegan Bradley 70 67 68, Xander Schauffele 69 71 65, John Catlin 73 65 67

206 Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 69 69 68, Kyle Stanley 72 68 66, Ernie Els (Rsa) 68 72 66, Keith Mitchell 70 65 71

207 Ryan Palmer 68 69 70, Billy Horschel 65 69 73

208 Branden Grace (Rsa) 70 70 68, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai) 65 73 70, Kevin Tway 70 67 71, Brice Garnett 70 70 68, Jamie Lovemark 70 69 69

209 Ben Leong (Mal) 68 70 71, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 71 68 70, Ted Potter, Jr. 71 70 68, Jason Dufner 70 69 70

210 Sang Hyun Park (Kor) 72 68 70, Pat Perez 70 69 71, Justin Harding (Rsa) 72 65 73, Chez Reavie 70 71 69, Brendan Steele 71 66 73, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 69 70 71, Ryan Armour 69 72 69, Thomas Pieters (Bel) 70 69 71

211 Danny Lee (Nzl) 69 74 68, Brian Stuard 70 73 68, Whee Kim (Kor) 69 68 74, Michael Kim 72 71 68

212 Andrew Putnam 76 68 68, Davis Love III 70 73 69, James Hahn 71 74 67, Jimmy Walker 73 71 68, Kelly Kraft 76 70 66, Tom Hoge 74 67 71

213 Sihwan Kim (Kor) 70 73 70, Jason Kokrak 73 69 71, Min Chel Choi (Kor) 73 73 67, Scott Vincent (Zim) 73 71 69

214 Sam Ryder 70 73 71, J.J. Spaun 73 72 69, Troy Merritt 72 75 67, Brandt Snedeker 75 69 70, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 73 69 72, Anirban Lahiri (Ind) 72 74 68

215 Ryan Moore 71 72 72

216 Peter Uihlein 71 73 72, Scott Stallings 67 76 73, Berry Henson 71 72 73

217 Ollie Schniederjans 75 69 73

218 Brian Gay 72 72 74

219 Jon Curran 72 72 75

221 Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 77 71 73

230 Leun-Kwang Kim (Mal) 76 76 78