Atwal slips to tied 70th at Buick Open

GRAND BLANC: Poor finishing continued to dog Arjun Atwal and another bogey-bogey finish saw him slip to tied 70th with a card of one-over 73 in the third round of Buick Open here.

Atwal, whose first round had ended in a similar fashion, had a bogey on the fourth and then after nine pars in a row, he struck birdies on the 14th and 15th in succession.

But the late bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes spoilt his day once again.

At two-under 214 for three rounds, he is way down in a low-scoring tournament, where Tom Pernice stole the show after the turn, starting with an eagle at the 13th followed by four consecutive birdies for a six-under 66.

Pernice, the 1999 Buick Open champion, sits alone atop a crowded leaderboard on 13-under 203 with compatriots Scott Verplank (69) and Brian Bateman (69) and Sweden's Jesper Parnevik (64) lurking one shot back at the Warwick Hills course.

Meanwhile, Indian-born Swede Daniel Chopra had an eventful round with four birdies and four bogeys for an even-par 72 that saw him come down to 40th with a total of six-under 210.

He had one bogey on the front nine and the back stretch had four birdies and three bogeys.