It was not a great day for Indian Golf. Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar, who started the round in tied-third place, were not able to give their best game after posting a two-under-par 70. They slipped nine shots off the pace to tie in 11th position at the prestigious US$7 million event.

 Korea's Byeonghun An and Siwoo Kim remained in the hunt for their country’s first ISPS HANDA Melbourne World Cup of Golf title after battling to a four-under-par 68 in the penultimate round’s fourball match on Saturday.

An and Kim fired an eagle and four birdies against two bogeys to trail by five shots in second place alongside Abraham Ancer and Roberto Diaz of Mexico (65) and Italy’s (66) Andrea Pavan and Renato Paratore.

It was Belgium’s Thomas Pieters and Thomas Detry who pulled away from the chasing pack after signing for a commanding 63 and a three-day total of 19-under-par 197 at The Metropolitan Golf Club. They had held a share of the overnight two-shot lead with Korea.

Did you know?

• Team India of Anirban Lahiri and Gaganjeet Bhullar traded five birdies against three bogeys for a battling round of 70 in the fourball match on Saturday. Lahiri contributed three birdies while Bhullar made two for the team. Lahiri and Bhullar each dropped a shot on the third and 17th respectively.
• They hold a combined total of 16 victories on the Asian Tour, which includes three co-sanctioned wins on the European Tour.
• Lahiri, now a regular player on the PGA Tour, is a two-time International team member of the Presidents Cup. He is also the Asian Tour Order of Merit champion in 2015.
• Lahiri, 31, and Bhullar, 30, have represented India together in numerous team competitions since their amateur days. They featured in the Eisenhower Cup, Nomura Cup and Asian Games, delivering a team silver in 2006, before venturing almost at the same time into the play-for-pay ranks where they also represented Team Asia in the inaugural EurAsia Cup in 2013.
• India’s best finish of ninth place in the event was achieved by Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa in Portugal in 2005.

(Source: Asian Tour release)