Bhandari, who finished joint 10th alongwith Johl yesterday, returned a three-over-par 74 to slip four rungs down with an aggregate of one under 212.Johl with a 75 today was joint 20th, one stroke behind.

India's top pro Jeev compounded his miseries here with a dismal 76 to log a poor five-over 218 which placed him in the 45th position with two others.Meanwhile, the race for the title hotted up with American Andrew Pitts (68), Taiwan's Hsieh Chin-Sheng (66) and Korea's Kang Wook-Soon (71) just one stroke behind Lee Westwood of England who shot into the lead with a one-under 70 to total six under 205.

Mukesh leads

PATNA: Mukesh Kumar, winner of the Wills Eastern Open at Calcutta early this year has taken the lead with a fine four under 66 on the penultimateround of the LMG-Patna Open golf tournament here today.

D K Verma, with a tally of five under 205 was just two strokes behind at the second spot against Mukesh Kumar's score of seven under 203 after third day of play.

Feroz Ali, Akbar Ali and Rafiq Ali were jointly third at three under 207.The overnight leader Pappan slipped down to sixth spot with a listless seven over 77.

In the amateur category, Roshan Sharan was leading the table at 229 followed by Col. B S Rangi with 235 and Ravi Kataruka with 240 points.