Ilonen leads China Open

A timely chip-in pushed Finland's Mikko Ilonen into a slender one-shot lead ahead of Korean duo YE Yang and Kim Do-hoon and Jamie Donaldson midway through a see-saw third round at the Volvo China Open today.

Ilonen surged up the leaderboard on a blustery third day at Jinji Lake International Golf Club with three birdies over his first four holes before edging ahead at 12-under-par with a deft chip and run from the edge of the green at the par-five ninth at the end of the wetlands-style front nine.

PGA Championship winner Yang, who finished eighth at the Masters last week, managed just a solitary gain over his opening nine holes after making a successful up-and-down from a bunker at the par-five second.

Donaldson had briefly held the lead after back-to-back birdies before a solitary bogey at the eighth dropped the Welshman, who finished sixth at the Open de Andalucia in Malaga at the end of March, back alongside Yang and Kim, who failed to improve from his overnight mark which had been enough for a one-shot lead after two rounds.

While Kim is far less known than US PGA Tour regular Yang, the 21-year-old is equally in form after following up a third-placed finish at the Luxehills Chengdu Open at the start of April with a maiden victory on the Korean Tour at the SBS Tomato Open just last week.

Former champion Stephen Dodd, meanwhile, posted the third-round clubhouse lead with a bogey-free six-under-par 66 lifting the 2005 champion to 10 under overall alongside Asian number one Thongchai Jaidee and Spain's Pablo Larrazabal.

Trophee Hassan II winner Rhys Davies earlier produced a "special back nine" which included two eagles in three holes for a bogey free seven under bogey-free 65 to improve to eight-under-par overall.

Challenge Tour graduate Davies started brightly with a first-hole birdie but that accounted for the only gain over the wetlands set-up of the front nine.

But after holing a 70 yard pitch at 12 for an eagle three at the start of the links-style back nine, Davies holed a mammoth putt from the front edge two holes later before finishing with back-to-back birdies.

"It was very flat on the front nine. I got a birdie at the first and thought that might springboard something, but it just didn't quite happen," said the 24-year-old, who opened with rounds of 73 and 70.

"And then it all started when I holed a 70-yard pitch on the 12th for an eagle. I had actually been threatening with a few wedge shots all week so you could say it was due, but it is always nice.

"I made a good up and down on the 13th and then got it on the front edge at the par five 14th in two and holed it from 50-60 feet.

"And I hit three irons into last two holes and holed it from 25 feet at 17 and then hit it to eight feet at the last.

"I have kept telling myself to be patient all week. I didn't play that badly over the first two rounds, but it wasn't quite happening. It wasn't quite happening on the front nine today but it certainly did on the back nine."