Ding said after the round that the par five 17th hole has been problematic for him both last year and again this year.

"I seem to find the bunker off the tee on that hole every time I play it," said Ding, who lost in a play off last week in the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in Melbourne, Australia. "I aim at the middle of the fairway but the ball always goes left. It's been like this for three consecutive days, which makes me quite angry.

'I wasn't expecting to finish in second place today as I was hitting it badly on the practice range before play began."

Despite his anger, former US Junior Amateur champion Ding will now fancy his chances in Sunday's final round and is sure to have lots of support from the home fans as will be playing in the final group alongside Chen.

Five players now lie in joint fourth place at eight under par including Berry Henson of the USA, Hung Chien-yao of Chinese Taipei, Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh and John Lyras of Australia, who birdied his final four holes to return a score of five under par 67.

Also on eight under par is second round leader Eugenio Chacarra of Spain, who stumbled to a one over par 73 today.