Langkawi: James Byrne of Scotland remained four shots ahead of the chasing pack following a third round three-under-par 69 at the Professional Golf of Malaysia (GM LADA Langkawi Masters on Saturday.
He posted two birdies and one eagle against one bogey for 18-under-par 198 to lead over Singaporean Lam Chih Bing, who produced a sensational 65, and Japanese Mitsuhiko Hashizume (67) at the Gunung Raya Golf Resort.
Thailand’s Wasin Sripattranusorn registered a 67 for fourth position, five shots from Byrne at the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.
Nicholas Fung was the best placed Malaysian after shooting a second consecutive 71 for a 208 total. He is 10 shots off the pace heading into the final round.
Byrne was disappointed not to build on his overnight five-shot lead but remains confident that he can secure his second ADT title since winning at the PGM CCM Rahman Putra Masters in February.
“Anytime you have a lead, it is still a good position. It is nice to be ahead and I’ve won before at Rahman Putra. I’ve also won a few times in amateur golf with a lead so I’m not going to worry too much about the guys behind me,” said the former Walker Cup star.
The 23-year-old was four-under after 10 holes but struggled to keep pace when his putter turned cold.
“I struggled on the last eight holes. I missed quite a few birdie chances on 13, 14 and 15 and made a silly bogey on 16. I just didn’t hit the ball and putt as well as I did in the last two days. I felt like I could have pushed on a bit better but I can’t complain too much.”
Chih Bing was unsurprisingly delighted with his third round effort. “I was solid throughout,” said Lam. “I have driven the ball very well this week and today, I buried a few nice putts that lifted my round.”
A minor swing change on the 10th turned Hashizume’s round as he conjured up a five-under scoreline over the last nine holes of the third round. “That is all it took,” he said. “I just came (in my swing) more on the inside and it worked out very good for me.”
Leading third round scores
198 -James Byrne (Sco) 64-65-69
202 – Lam Chih Bing (Sin) 70-67-65, Mitsuhiko Hashizume (Jpn) 68-67-67
203 – Wasin Sripattranusorn (Tha) 67-69-67
204 – Anthony Kang (US) 67-70-67, Lindsay Renolds (Can) 69-65-70
205 – Malcolm Kokocinski (Swe) 64-72-69
206 – Nils Floren (Swe) 63-72-71
207 – Adam Blyth (Aus) 70-72-65, Lee Shih-Hung (Tpe) 68-69-70, Hsieh Tung-Shu (Tpe) 68-68-71
208 – Yang Fei-Hao (Tpe) 70-68-70, Nicholas Fung (Mas) 66-71-71, Ian Keenan (Eng) 70-67-71
