Poulter settles for par at Macau Open, 5 strokes back

MACAU (AP) - Ian Poulter carded three birdies over the final six holes to finish the third round with an even-par 71 and a share of 14th place at the Macau Open on Saturday.

Poulter, who was in the lead after the first round, had a triple bogey on the par-4 10th hole but made up some ground on the back nine at Macau Golf and Country Club to close at 5-under 208, five strokes off the lead.

"A bit of frustration, more than anything else," Poulter said. "The dream start on Thursday didn't feel great yesterday, and I didn't get off to the best of starts today. A poor tee shot on 10 was very costly. Looking at the leaderboard now, it's really annoying."

Anirban Lahiri, the 2014 champion, and Chikkarangappa both shot 69 to share the lead at 10-under 203.

Poulter was coming off 14 weeks on the sidelines because of an arthritic joint in his right foot, although he remained involved as a non-playing vice captain for Europe in its Ryder Cup loss.

Carlos Pigem, who had a share of the first-round lead with Poulter, was tied for third with four others after a 69.