Sungai Buloh: Former Professional Golf of Malaysia (PGM) Order of Merit champion R. Nachimuthu hopes to make one final push tomorrow at the PGM CCM Rahman Putra Masters.
Local hope Nachimuthu carded an even-par 72 on Friday to trail the trio of Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden, Zaw Moe of Myanmar and Japanese Mitsuhiko Hashizume by one-shot at Kelab Rahman Putra Malaysia.
Swedish newcomer produced a flawless third round 69 to tie with veteran Moe and co-overnight leader Hashizume, who shot a 67 and 72 respectively, to lead on eight-under-par 208 in the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour event.
Nachimuthu was two-under for the round at the turn but dropped two consecutive bogeys from the 15th to take a share of fourth alongside Singaporean Quincy Quek (70).
“I didn’t manage to hold on to my advantage, so I am disappointed with how I finished. The good thing is that there still another round left and teeing off behind the leaders, I’m going to play better than them and make up that deficit early one,” said the four-time PGM Tour winner.
After missing the grade at the Asian Tour Qualifying School last week, Kokocinski is determined to make amends as he aims for his first professional win after joining the play-for-pay ranks four months ago.
“This is my first time playing in Asia and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been putting pretty good and that was my main focus. I kept calm and didn’t make any bogeys. It was a good round,” said the Swede.
The 21-year-old might be a newcomer in Asia but he swiftly acclimatized with the humidity and was rewarded with three birdies on holes five, 10 and 11 at the Rahman Putra Golf Club.
“I think Asia is a nice place to play in. The people are nice the weather is really good because it is freezing back home now!” said Kokocinski.
Myanmar’s Moe got off to a flying start, shooting four-under at the turn and added two more birdies against one bogey in his homeward nine to charge up the leaderboard.
The 45-year-old, who is playing on a sponsor’s invitation, made a slight change in his swing during the Asian Tour’s off season and the tinkering paid dividends.
“I hit it quite close and made some putts. I made some changes to my swing with my coach and it looks good on videos but I’m not that comfortable on the course yet. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going and stay at the top,” said Moe.
Joint overnight leader Iain Steel of Malaysia slipped back to tied sixth place after posting a 74.
Leading third round scores
208 – Zaw Moe (MYN) 72-69-67, Malcolm Kokocinski (SWE) 71-68-69, Mitsuhiko Hashizume (JPN) 69-67-72
209 – Quincy Quek (SIN) 71-68-70, R. Nachimuthu 67-70-72
210 – James Byrne (SCO) 71-71-68, Iain Steel 68-68-74
211 – Nick Redfern (ENG) 68-74-69
212 – Edward Reyes (PHI) 69-74-69, Masaru Takahashi (JPN) 73-68-71, Mardan Mamat (SIN) 67-74-71, Rory Hie (INA) 71-69-72, Carl Santos-Ocampo (PHI) 74-66-72, Lam Chih Bing (SIN) 69-70-73
213 – Nicholas Fung 73-70-70, Danny Chia 73-70-70, Anthony Smith (AUS) 76-67-70, Shaaban Hussin 70-71-72
