Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (26 October) – With a 5-under-par total on the day, France gained the lead and is three strokes ahead of the USA, at 7-under-par, 425 after the third round of the 20002 World Amateur Team Championship at Saujana Golf & Country Club.

“We knew we had to play under par and that is difficult when you are in the state of mind to play safe,” said French coach Anne Leconiat.

France and defending champion USA shared the lead at 2-under-par after two rounds. However, a 4-under-par 68 from 2002 European champion Rafael Pellicioli and a 1-under-par 71 from Gregory Bourdy Saturday broke the second day deadlock.

“The only strategy is to make the best shots,” said French captain Bernard Casanave. “We must give everything we have.”

The USA, which lost its first-day five-stroke lead Friday, regained some it its early momentum with a pair of 1-under-par 71s from Hunter Mahan and D.J. Trahan to post a 4-under-par total of 428.

“We cannot worry about the other teams we will be playing with,” Trahan, the 2002 U.S. collegiate player of the year, said. “We have to play the golf course and get it in the hole as soon as possible.”

All of the top scoring half of the field played the Bunga Raya Course Saturday and will play the Palm Course in the final round. The other scoring half reversed that order of play.

Australia's Marcus Fraser shot a 5-under-67 and Adam Groom's 2-under-70 to propel them into third place at even par 432, a move of nine positions. They are seven strokes behind France and four strokes behind the USA and have progessed steadily up the standings from T31 to T12 to third.

“Our goal today was two scores in the 60s and we achieved that,” said Australian captain Roger Hunt. “We are thoroughly delighted. From the first day, we weren't despondent. We fought back.”

With its strong third-day finish, Australia is in a position to become the first country to win both the Espirito Santo and Eisenhower Trophies since the USA in 1994.

Following Australia in fourth place and nine shots back are Austria and the Philippines at 2-over-par 434. England, Spain and New Zealand are tied for sixth at 3-over-par 435. Argentina, which started the day third, is ninth at 4-over-par 436 and Italy is 10th at 5-over-par 437.

Italy, with a championship low round of 6-under-par 66 (four birdies, one eagle) from Edoardo Molinari, vaulted 17 spots to 10th. His younger brother, Francesco, fired a 1-under-par 71 to give the Italian team a three-day total of 7-under-par total of 137 for the third round.

Play was suspended for nearly an hour at 3:30 p.m.

For complete results, visit www.wagc.org and click on the Golfstat icon. Visit www.wagc.org/pix for downloadable photos.

Conducted by the World Amateur Golf Council, which comprises national governing bodies of golf in more than 100 countries, the World Amateur Team Championships are a biennial international amateur competition, which is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, American and European-African.

Each team, which has two or three players, plays 18 holes of stroke play for four days. In each round, the total of the two lowest scores by players from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72 holes) total is the team's score for the championship.

The 2004 World Amateur Team Championship will be played at the Hyatt Dorado Beach Resort and Country Club in Puerto Rico.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Results of Saturday's (26 October) third round of the World Amateur Team Championship, played at the Saujana Golf & Country Club (Palm Course: par 36-36--72, 6,343 meters, 6,939 yards; Bunga Raya Course: par: 36-36—72, 6,162 meters, 6,742 yards):

1 Palm Course; 2 Bunga Raya Course
Place Team Scoring Rounds Total Score
To par Thru Today 1 2 3
1 France 2 -7 F -5 142 144 139 425
2 USA 2 -4 F -2 137 149 142 428
3 Australia 2 E F -7 152 143 137 432
T4 Austria 2 +2 F E 150 140 144 434
T4 Philippines 2 +2 F -1 146 145 143 434
T6 England 2 +3 F +1 143 147 145 435
T6 New Zealand 2 +3 F E 149 142 144 435
T6 Spain 2 +3 F -4 148 147 140 435
9 Argentina 2 +4 F +3 143 146 147 436
10 Italy 2 +5 F -7 150 150 137 437
11 Wales 2 +6 F E 151 143 144 438
T12 Chin. Taipei 2 +7 F +4 150 141 148 439
T12 Colombia 2 +7 F -1 143 153 143 439
T12 Finland 2 +7 F +4 143 148 148 439
T12 Germany 2 +7 F +3 148 144 147 439
T12 Sweden 2 +7 F -3 144 154 141 439
17 Thailand 2 +8 F +1 143 152 145 440
T18 Norway 2 +10 F E 150 148 144 442
T18 Switzerland 2 +10 F +2 151 145 146 442
20 Netherlands 2 +11 F -3 150 152 141 443
T21 Brazil 2 +12 F +2 150 148 146 444
T21 Denmark 2 +12 F +4 146 150 148 444
T21 Japan 2 +12 F +2 155 143 146 444
T21 Korea 2 +12 F +4 144 152 148 444
T21 Scotland 2 +12 F +1 150 149 145 444
T21 South Africa 2 +12 F -2 155 147 142 444
27 India 2 +13 F E 155 146 144 445
T28 Ireland 2 +15 F +8 151 144 152 447
T28 Malaysia 2 +15 F +7 147 149 151 447
30 Venezuela 2 +16 F +1 150 153 145 448
T31 Canada 1 +18 F +2 157 147 146 450
T31 Chile 1 +18 F +1 160 145 145 450
33 Pakistan 2 +19 F +10 148 149 154 451
T34 Portugal 2 +22 F +8 144 158 152 454
T34 Puerto Rico 2 +22 F +9 150 151 153 454
T36 Czech Rep. 1 +26 F +9 155 150 153 458
T36 Paraguay 1 +26 F +7 152 155 151 458
38 Ecuador 1 +28 F +8 153 155 152 460
39 Iceland 1 +29 F +12 150 155 156 461
40 Mexico 1 +30 F +5 161 152 149 462
T41 Guatemala 1 +31 F +7 152 160 151 463
T41 Slovenia 1 +31 F +12 158 149 156 463
43 El Salvador 1 +33 F +13 159 149 157 465
44 Bolivia 1 +35 F +10 167 146 154 467
45 Hong Kong, 1 +36 F +14 156 154 158 468
China
46 Costa Rica 1 +37 F +13 167 145 157 469
47 Zimbabwe 1 +39 F +16 155 156 160 471
48 Bermuda 1 +40 F +13 159 156 157 472
49 Belgium 1 +43 F +11 161 159 155 475
50 Swaziland 1 +44 F +20 152 160 164 476
51 Singapore 1 +45 F +18 157 158 162 477
52 Turkey 1 +47 F +19 157 159 163 479
53 Egypt 1 +51 F +17 161 161 161 483
54 Greece 1 +60 F +21 167 160 165 492
55 Russian Fed.1 +67 F +26 166 163 170 499
56 Lebanon 1 +70 F +27 164 167 171 502
57 Slovakia 1 +78 F +28 179 159 172 510
58 Panama 1 +79 F +30 166 171 174 511
59 Estonia 1 +87 F +31 173 171 175 519
60 Latvia 1 +92 F +28 175 177 172 524
61 Croatia 1 +108 F +34 186 176 178 540
T62 Islamic Rep.1 +114 F +36 186 180 180 546
of Iran
T62 Saudi Arabia 1 +114 F +35 181 186 179 546


Individual Top 20
1 Gregory Bourdy 2 France -6 F -1 70 69 71 210
T2 Marcus Fraser 2 Aust. -5 F -5 74 70 67 211
T2 Hunter Mahan 2 USA -5 F -1 68 72 71 211
T2 Angelo Que 2 Phi. -5 F -3 72 70 69 211
5 Matias Anselmo 2 Arg. -2 F +1 70 71 73 214
T6 Camilo Villegas 2 Colo. -1 F E 68 75 72 215
T6 Tim Wilkinson 2 New Zea.-1 F -3 77 69 69 215
8 Pablo Martin 2 Spain E F -4 73 75 68 216
T9 Benjamin Alvarado 1 Chile +1 F -2 76 71 70 217
T9 Michael Thannhauser 2Germany +1 F +1 72 72 73 217
T11 Ricky Barnes 2 USA +3 F +1 69 77 73 219
T11 Lars-Petter
Brovold 2 Norway +3 F -3 78 72 69 219
T11 Jamie Elson 2 England +3 F -1 71 77 71 219
T11 Edoardo Molinari 2 Italy +3 F -6 76 77 66 219
T11 Francesco Molinari 2 Italy +3 F -1 74 74 71 219
T11 David Price 2 Wales +3 F E 77 70 72 219
T11 Martin Wiegele 2 Austria +3 F -2 78 71 70 219
T11 Gary Wolstenholme 2 England +3 F +2 74 71 74 219
T19 Nigel Edwards 2 Wales +4 F E 74 74 72 220
T19 Shiv Kapur 2 India +4 F E 78 70 72 220