Aaron Cockerill matched the lowest round of his DP World Tour career to set the clubhouse target on a weather-affected day three of the ISPS Handa Championship.
Play was initially suspended at 12:48pm local time, before the leaders had teed off, and four hours and 12 minutes were lost before the field took to Infinitum’s Lakes Course again.
Upon the resumption, Canadian Cockerill completed a 62 to get to 10 under moments before the hooter sounded again at 6:58pm, with no further play possible for the day.
A severe hailstorm and the threat of lightning throughout the day meant that 17 groups would return to complete round three on day four, with the final group left with 13 holes to play.
That group contained on-course leader Scott Jamieson, who was 11 under after making a birdie and a bogey in his first five holes.
Jamieson’s playing partners Adrian Otaegui and Tapio Pulkkanen were then in a share of third at eight under alongside Johannes Veerman and David Law, who had 12 holes to play; Hennie du Plessis and Jack Senior, who had 10 remaining; Pablo Larrazábal, who turned in 31 and Andrew Wilson, who had completed 15 holes.
Cockerill is enjoying an excellent season so far despite not having full playing privileges, making four cuts from five events and achieving a career-best finish of second at the Magical Kenya Open.
He started the day nine shots off the lead but crept up the leaderboard with birdies on the 2nd, 4th and 5th to turn in 31.
Another gain came on the 10th and he picked up further shots on the 13th and 14th before an approach to 12 feet had him eagle the last and leapfrogging into second place.
Overnight-leader Jamieson failed to get up and down on the 1st, but birdied the 3rd with a 10-footer and that extended his lead to three after Pulkkanen had dropped a shot on the 2nd – but Cockerill trimmed the advantage with his big finish.
There were 24 players within five shots of the lead.
– Report from DP World Tour website
