By V. Krishnaswamy, in Saudi Arabia

Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, February 2: Scott Hend and Gavin Green kept themselves in the race for a good finish even as China’s Li Haotong shot a historic four eagles, three of them par-fours, in the third round of the Saudi International at the Royal Greens Golf Club on Saturday.

Hend (69) moved to eight-under-par while Green (67) crept up to seven-under-par to be tied-sixth and tied-11th respectively with the final round to go.

Meanwhile, the action-packed day saw Li Haotong (62) land four eagles in a single round to grab a share of the lead with Dustin Johnson (65) with a total of 16-under-par.

Tom Les (62) was third at 11-under-par and Alex Levy (67) and Ryan Fox (67) were tied-fourth at nine-under-par.

Four players including Hend, Zander Lombard (70), Ross Fisher 65), Joachim Hansen (65) and Min Woo Lee (63) were tied-sixth.

In another stunning development, the 2017 Masters champion Sergio Garcia was disqualified for “serious misconduct” – damaging some greens in frustration – while the 2018 Masters champion, Patrick Reed went three times into the water while scoring a 10 on the par-five 18th.

India’s Gaganjeet Bhullar finally found some rhythm and converted the chances he created to force his way into the upper half of the leaderboard after making the weekend on the cutline. Bhullar added a four-under-par 66 to his earlier rounds of 68 and 72 to reach a 212 total. He was tied-27th, after being tied-58th a day earlier.

Justin Harding (70) who was two-over-par on the front nine made a recovery on the backstretch with two pairs of birdies on 13th, 14th and again on 17th and 18th to get to was three-under, alongside David Lipsky (69) at tied-36th.

Jake McLeod (73), who was 65-70 in the first round, slipped with a third round three-over-par.

Hend had five birdies, including three between fifth and eighth, but also missed a two-footer on 11th for a bogey and had a double on par-five 12th.  Hend, hit the flag with his second bounce off the second shot on the 17th, but it bounced off to almost 15 feet from where he missed a birdie putt.

Green played solid and gave himself a lot of chances and converted them, too, as he had seven birdies against four bogeys. Starting with a birdie on second, he gave that back on the next. He quickly made up with a pair on the third and fourth before dropping a second bogey.

Birdies on seventh and ninth meant he turned in three-under-par. Bogeys on the 10th and 13th threatened to ruin the good work of the front nine, but he pulled himself back with a couple of lucky breaks on the last two, which he birdied.

“It was a solid day. I gave myself a lot of good looks. There were some mistakes but that is normal,” he added. “We couldn’t judge the wind to start with, but then got to understand what it was. It was blowing and then stop blowing and start blowing again. Then we decided to play the wind, rather than fight the wind. We used the wind well. I hit a lot of fairways and that helps especially in the wind.”

“It was a solid day and finally the putts fell and I am happy with the way it went. Hopefully I will have another solid round tommorrow,” said Bhullar.

Li Haotong on his four eagles

Twice Li fired eagles to get within a shot of the leader Johnson and then landed two more in succession for an amazing total of four eagles to join him at the top. So Johnson shot 65 and yet had to give up his three-shot overnight advantage as Li Haotong carded eight-under 62 and the two were at tied for the lead at 16-under-par.

Li kept saying he was lucky, though he played brilliantly.

He said: “I think it’s very, very lucky today. Those eagles, especially last couple shots, was really solid, but except that, honestly, my play, wasn’t that good. But I did made a lot of par putts.”

Going through his four eagles, he said: “That ball (on first), the lie, wasn’t that great, and firm grain. If it didn’t go in the hole, it could have been off the green. It’s very lucky eagle over there.

(On) 10th, that’s what I want to play, that way, but just I felt like I pushed a little bit. (I) got a lucky bounce, kicked it left and went in the hole, which is very lucky, too.”

On his third eagle, he admitted, “That was a solid shot (379 yards) and it was one of my best shots in my life. I hit where I want there, so six-foot eagle putt was a little bit nervy.

As for the eagle on 18th, he added, “It  was another lucky bounce there. I mean, off the tee, driving the bunker about two yards short to carry the bunker, and bounce over the bunker, which is lucky. I hit to nine feet. That was solid putt actually, quite exciting on that one.”

Garcia apologises for misconduct

As the 2017 Masters champion Garcia exited before time, the 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed scored a 10 by making a trip into the water three times but still carded 72.

The Tour put out a statement, which said, “Sergio Garcia has been disqualified from the third round of the Saudi International powered by SBIA under rule 1.2a. Rule 1.2a allows for disqualification if a play has committed serious misconduct.”

Garcia said: “I respect the decisions of my disqualification. In frustration, I damaged a couple of greens, for which I apologise, and I have informed my fellow players that it will never happen again.”