Shubhankar storms into contention

Shubhankar Sharma was back to his birdie-gathering ways with five birdies in six holes before lightning forced a suspension of play yet again during the third round of the Indonesian Masters on Saturday.

Shubhankar, who won the Joburg Open last week, was five-under through 11 holes in the third round to move to 11-under for the tournament and was tied-6th.

Shubhankar is now five shots behind England's Justin Rose who stayed in the pole position at the weather-hit, season-ending Asian Tour flagship event.

Lightning and thunderstorms have hit the event since the second day.

Play will resume at 6.15 am on Sunday morning with the fourth round scheduled to commence at 7.30 am with players teeing off in the same groups.

S Chikkarangappa was one-under through eight holes and 10-under for 44 holes.

Ajeetesh Sandhu (three-under through 14) and Shiv Kapur (par through 11) were both 7-under and tied-23rd. Gaganjeet Bhullar (1-over through 11) was 5-under and is tied-33rd, while Honey Baisoya (par through 15) and Jyoti Randhawa (one-under through 11) were T-44 at three-under for the tournament. Rashid Khan (3-over through 14) was T-73.

Major champion Rose made his quick return to the starting tee after completing his second round early this morning. He raced ahead with two birdies in his opening three holes before extending his advantage with another birdie on five.

The Olympic gold medalist then parred his next three holes to stay ahead of the chasing pack at 16-under-par before play was suspended.

Zimbabwe's Scott Vincent and Thailand's Kiradech Aphibarnrat trailed Rose by three shots at 13-under-par through eight holes while Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand and Korea's Giwhan Kim were a further shot back at 12-under-par after eight holes.