OSAKA JAPAN

SPO14SportsAtwal tied 17th, Gangjee misses cut at Panasonic golfOsaka Japan, Sep 27 IANS Three birdies and two bogeys carried Indian golfer Arjun Atwal to the 17th place while Rahil Gangjee missed the cut at the co-sanctioned Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open here Saturday. Atwal who had an even par 70 in first round, shot a bogey-free 66 in second round with his last two holes producing pars. In the third round, Atwal carded 69 in the third round Saturday with birdies on the fourth, tenth and 13th and dropped shots on ninth and 11th. Gangjee missed the cut with rounds of 72 and 73 after the last two holes of the second round was played in the morning. Japan's Azuma Yano and Hideto Tanihara were tied atop the leaderboard at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open after the conclusion of a thrilling third round Saturday. Yano, chasing a second successive victory, posted a flawless five-under-par 65 at Ibaraki Country Club's West Course for a three-day total of 12-under-par 198. Tanihara fired an equally superb 64 in the third round to give himself a chance in the $1.85 million event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour. Halfway leader Kaname Yokoo slipped to third place after a 68 while Chinese star Liang Wen-chong, New Zealand's Mark Brown and Korea's Bae Sang-moon stayed in contention on 201 after carding identical 67s.Last year's US Open champion Angel Cabrera of Argentina carded a 69 to lie on 205, seven shots off the pace while American Fred Couples shot a 71 for a 209 total. --Indo-Asian News Servicevks/abr/jg276 Words27091728