Atwal gives away early gains as Kim leads by five shots in John Deere

Indian golfer Arjun Atwal frittered away his good work in the first 10 holes, making three bogeys on the back nine and finishing the third round in 1-under 70 at the John Deere Classic here.

At 4-under 209, he was tied 62nd.

Atwal, playing only his third event on the PGA Tour in the current season, started from the tenth and had three birdies in a row from 14th to 16th and a fourth on the first when he turned for his second nine.

But bogeys on the third, fourth and seventh took away much of those gains.

Michael Kim celebrated his 25th birthday profitably as he moved to within one round of his first PGA TOUR victory. Kim took a five-shot lead as the third round was delayed twice for almost four hours because of bad weather and concerns over lightning.

Bronson Burgoon (66) was 17 under and Australian Matt Jones (66) was 16 under. Harold Varner III (66) was alone in fourth at 15 under. Andres Romero of Argentina was 14 under after shooting 64, as was Sam Ryder (67).

On Friday, Kim was four strokes ahead and in the middle of playing the 18th hole when play was suspended for the second and final time. He missed an 8-footer for par when play resumed early Saturday, his only bogey of the second round. Yesterday, he closed with four straight birdies and shot a 7-under 64 to get to 22-under 191.