Volvo China Open 2016: Saturday Leaderboard Scores and Highlights

Chile's Felipe Aguilar birdied the last hole of his third round at the 2016 China Open to card a five-under 67 and tie for the lead with Lucas Bjerregaard on 16 under at the end of Saturday's action in Beijing. 

Belgium's Nicolas Colsaerts shot a blemish-free round of 65 to move to 14 under and is now two shots back in a tie for third place along with England's Tyrrell Hatton, Sweden's Alex Noren and China's Haotong Li.

Here is what the leaderboard looks like after Saturday's action ahead of the final round on Sunday:

#	Nat	Player	Score	R3
T1	DNK	Lucas Bjerregaard	-16	65
T1	CHL	Felipe Aguilar	-16	67
T3	BEL	Nicolas Colsaerts	-14	65
T3	ENG	Tyrrell Hatton	-14	67
T3	CHN	Li Haotong	-14	66
T3	SWE	Alexander Noren	-14	68
7	FRA	Gregory Havret	-13	67
T8	ENG	Richard Bland	-12	68
T8	SWE	Peter Hanson	-12	67
T8	GER	Marcel Siem	-12	69

The full leaderboard can be accessed at the European Tour's official website.

Saturday Recap

With play having been suspended because of a thunderstorm on Friday a number of players had to return early on Saturday morning to complete their second rounds.

However, Aguilar was not to be reeled in having led at the end of play on Friday and continued his excellent form with four birdies in the opening nine of his third round at one, four, five and eight.

Early on Saturday France's Benjamin Hebert had reached parity after going through his first nine holes—having started on the 10th—in just 29, picking up an eagle at the par-four 11th and carding birdies on 12, 13, 15, 16 and 18, per the European Tour:

Hebert dropped off in the back nine and Aguilar slowed, but the Chilean still managed to stay on top as he went through in one under par after the turn at Topwin Golf & Country Club.

Bjerregaard briefly did eclipse Aguilar at the top of the leaderboard before the Chilean shot a four at the last to re-take a share of the lead—he missed a chance at an eagle to go ahead on his own.

The Danish player did not drop a single shot over his 18 holes—indeed his last and only bogey so far in the competition was at the 13th in his opening round—and he eagled the third to open his Saturday play in style as he holed his second with a brilliant approach shot.

A four at the par-five eighth then saw him out in 33 before back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12 moved him further up the leaderboard.

Per the European Tour, it was an excellent birdie at the par-three 16th that then saw him into a tie for the lead, and his four at the par-five last put him momentarily ahead on his own:

Similarly impressive was Colsaerts' round of 65, which came courtesy of birdies at five, eight, 10, 11, 13, 14 and 18.

The big-hitting Belgian was joined on 14 under by Hatton—whose topsy-turvy round of 67 included two bogeys, five birdies and an eagle at the par-five eighth—local favourite Li, and Noren after he scrambled an excellent birdie at the last.

Per the European Tour, the Chinese player carded four birdies in succession from the fifth to put him in contention, and he picked up three more shots on the back nine with a six on the par-five 12th the only blemish on his card:

There were plenty of low scores in Beijing on Saturday, and with a number of top players within touching distance of the top of the leaderboard, Sunday could produce some very exciting action.