De Los Santos finds belief despite suffering two late bogeys

Filipino golfer Justin De Los Santos has given himself a chance to register his first top-10 finish of the season after bouncing back strongly from a lacklustre second round in the weather-hit BMW Japan Golf Tour Championship Mori Building Cup.

The 27-year-old was challenging for the lead at one point when he birdied eight of his opening 14 holes, but a pair of late bogeys on holes 16 and 17 saw him settle for a third-round six-under-par 65 on Saturday.

That result placed De Los Santos in a share of seventh on five-under-par 208 as the third-round play was halted due to darkness with only six players in the clubhouse of the Shishido Hills Country Club.

Halfway stage leader Takumi Kanaya kept himself at the summit on 11-under with eight holes remaining, two ahead of Keita Nakajima who had seven holes to play.

Organisers were hoping to get the tournament back up and running after Friday's second round could not be because of heavy rain.

However, the resumption of the second round this morning was further delayed for a further two hours.

The third round did not start until 2.20 pm local time, with the leaders' flight only teed off at 4.10 pm.

The penultimate round is scheduled to resume at 6.30 am on Sunday, and with the sunny weather forecast for the rest of the day, the organisers are trying to complete a 72-hole play.

De Los Santos remained upbeat despite the two late dropped shots preventing him from finishing the day higher on the standings.

"Unfortunately, the last three holes didn't go my way. But it's still a good round considering it's not an easy course to put something low here," said De Los Santos who shot a pair of 70 and 73 for his first two rounds.

"Overall, I'm happy with where I am. At the start of the day, I would probably say no if you asked me if I could shoot six-under.

"Takumi is playing good golf, so I just have to play my game tomorrow and see where it takes."

Ends.