Els eases back towards pack after late slip

Ernie Els is on course to take his earnings to £3m in just four months despite a late slip in the third round of the Caltex Masters here yesterday.

The Open champion appeared to be cruising to a fourth consecutive victory when he opened up a five-shot lead after 11 holes at Laguna National. But the world No 2 dropped shots at the last two holes to card a third-round 70 for a 10-under total of 206, two strokes ahead of China's Lian-Wei Zhang. The Thailand-based Scot Simon Yates had birdies at three of the last four holes to finish a shot further back, alongside Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng.

"With a two-shot lead now I really have to knuckle down and play," said Els. "If you have five shots you can maybe take it easy, but this is not really anything of a lead."

Els has won his last three events – the Nedbank Challenge last year and the first two US Tour events in Hawaii in 2003 – and also won the World Matchplay title at Wentworth in October.

Victory here today and the £92,000 first prize, along with his six-figure appearance fee and sponsorship bonuses for winning the Open at Muirfield, would add up to a hugely successful period.

Yates, who was born in Glasgow and represented Scotland at downhill skiing, enjoyed the experience of playing alongside Els but admitted he may benefit from not doing so in the final round.

"I wasn't nervous playing with Ernie, I was quite looking forward to it and enjoyed the experience," the 32-year-old said. "He is only two shots ahead of Zhang and three in front of me so it might be good that I am not in the final group."

England's Simon Khan, Welshman Mark Pilkington, Holland's Maarten Lafeber, Qualifying School winner Per Nyman of Sweden and local professional Chih-Bing Lam share fifth place on five under, five off the lead.