Ernie Els must wait until Monday morning to claim (most likely) his third victory of the year at the BMW Asian Open. A three and a half hour delay on Sunday morning due to the threat of thunderstorms left 24 players on the course and in Shanghai for another day.

At the end of play on Saturday, Els had a five-stroke lead over Simon Wakefield and was able to open up his lead in his limited play on Sunday. The Big Easy is eight strokes in front of Wakefield and his lead is likely to go to nine first thing Monday, as he has a five foot birdie putt waiting for him on hole seven.

Els has carded two birdies on the six holes he's completed while Wakefield has carded one bogey to fall eight strokes back.

Wakefield got hot late in his round on Saturday to move into second position. He carded four birdies in the closing six holes to stand alone in second. Wakefield felt like he made the best of his round, "I got off to a pretty nervy start but I tried to keep a smile on my face all the way round because there were a few shots that I did not hit particularly well but got good results."

Thomas Bjorn got his third round started on the right track as he scored an eagle on the second and was -4 after 12 holes. However, he reeled off six straight pars to finish his round, missing two birdie opportunities. He's at even par through seven holes of his final round.

Els stands at 22-under par with Wakefield at 14-under and Thomas Bjorn all alone in third at -12. Frenchman Jean-François Lucquin is fourth at -11. Barring all disasters, this will be Els' third title on The 2005 European Tour International Schedule.

Stay tuned on The Sand Trap for complete final round coverage tomorrow!

Photo Credit: © William R. Sallaz/SI.

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