Sandhu, Madappa Slip in New Zealand

Queenstown (New Zealand), Feb 29 (PTI) India's Ajeetesh Sandhu (71) and Viraj Madappa (74) slipped to tied 41 and tied 68 respectively in the 101st New Zealand Open here on Saturday.

Korean teenager Joohyung Kim sank a 10-footer on Par-r3 18th to keep at least a share of the lead for the third straight day.

Kim, who carded 67 shares the lead with Australia's Lucas Herbert.

Herbert, 24, who has already won the Dubai Desert Classic on the European Tour last month, stormed to the top of the leaderboard with three birdies in his final five holes.

Kim trailed by a shot till the final birdie as both players are now at 15-under-par 199 at the Millbrook Resort.

Herbert made one of the biggest moves of the day, having trailed Kim by six shots when he stepped up to the opening tee.

The 2011 New Zealand Open champion Brad Kennedy of Australia closed strongly with back-to-back birdies to trail the pair by two shots in outright third place while American Chan Kim, a former member of the Asian Tour, is tied for fourth with Australia's Nick Flanagan on 202 total.

Thailand's Pavit Tangkamolprasert signed for a 70 to stay five shots back of the leaders in tied ninth place with Australia's Ben Eccles and Kieran Muir.

Kim said, "Tomorrow is going to be fun to be honest, playing with Lucas is going to be really enjoyable.

"Obviously he's a European Tour winner, so it's going to be wherever it goes, whether I win or lose tomorrow, I'm just going to really enjoy myself."

Herbert said, "To fight back like I did and make some really good swings sort of 15, 16, 17 and even 18 there to hit it in the middle of the green, I was really proud of that because I think we've got a bit of work to do on the range to get ready for tomorrow."

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