For the second successive day, a final-hole birdie brought the lead back to Rory Hie as the Indonesian retained his one-stroke advantage after the third and penultimate round of the USD 300,000 Classic Golf and Country Club International Championship here on Saturday.
Rory, looking for his maiden Asian Tour title in over a decade as a professional, carded a five-under 67 to nose ahead of a resurgent Rashid Khan, who shot a 66. Rory’s three-round aggregate stands at 17-under 199.
Rashid, playing in the group ahead of Rory, caught up with the Indonesian after 15 holes. As it turned out, the two title-aspirants found birdies on three out of the last four holes.
Interestingly, the top four players were separated by a shot. Abhijit Chadha, in the second place at the start of the round, was third following a 68. Korea’s Byungjung responded with a 67 to be fourth.
Koorantanapisan shines
The day’s best card came from Thailand’s Suttijet Koorantanapisan. He shot a nine-under 63, including an eagle and eight birdies, to share the seventh place fifth place at 205.
The day clearly belonged to Rashid. He found pars on the first six holes before birdies on the seventh and the ninth made him part of the top-five bracket. His lone bogey, on the 11th , did not impact his play as he aggressively made amends with a birdie on the next. Two pars later, Rashid fired a pair of birdies and then signed off with another to take the club-house lead before Rory duplicated his efforts, over the last four holes.
- Third round: 199 - Rory Hie (Ina) (64, 68, 67); 200 - Rashid Khan (68, 66, 66); 201 - Abhijit Chadha (68, 65, 68); 202 - Byungjun Kim (Kor) (69, 66, 67); 204 - Aadil Bedi (67, 68, 69), Kosuke Hamamoto (Tha) (69, 65, 70); 205 - Suttijet Koorantanapisan (Tha) (70, 72, 63).
- Other Indians in top-15: 206 - Aman Raj (67, 67, 72); 207 - Himmat Rai (68, 71, 68), Abhinav Lohan (70, 67, 70); 208 - Viraj Madappa (69, 71, 68), Sudhir Sharma (70, 72, 66) and S. Chikkarangappa (70, 67, 71).
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