Japan v Australia in final round of

Asian Tour International event

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ASIAN TOUR
Japan’s Tesuji Hiratsuka continued his title charge at the Asian Tour International by battling to a four-under-par 67 today to set up what should be an exciting finale to the season-opening event on the Asian Tour.
The 37-year-old Japanese, on 14-under-par 199 after 54-holes, takes a one-shot lead over Australia’s Unho Park into the final round at the Suwan Golf and Country Club, Bangkod in Thailand tomorrow.
Park returned a 66 for a 13-under-par 200 total and is two shots ahead of India’s Rahil Gangjee and South Africa’s James Kamte, who are both tied for third after posting matching 202s at the US$300,000 full-field Asian Tour event.
Hiratsuka started strongly with a birdie, followed by three more on the fifth, sixth and eighth. He dropped two shots on the ninth and 12th, but recorded birdies on the 11th and 13th to ensure that he would finish as the third-round leader after Park and Gangjee both failed to hold on to their early lead.
“I think what was key for me today was my putting. My tee shots were not very good but I got away with it with my putting,” said Hiratsuka.
“It’s going to get very exciting tomorrow as I think it’ll be a close call for the title, especially with the leaderboard always changing today,” added the Japanese.
Midway through the day, Park took the lead with his eagle 2 at the 13th hole.
The 35-year-old Australian never looked likely to surrender his lead after that, especially with his birdie blitz on the 14th and 15th.
However, two costly bogeys on the 16th and 17th marred his card for what could have otherwise been a flawless display of golf for the 35-year-old Australian.
“I didn’t really hit it well off the tee today but I must say that I putted really well instead. I holed a lot of long putts,” said Park.
“There were some good shots and some bad shot but there’s still everything to play for tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it,” added Park who is seeking his maiden victory on the Asian Tour.
Meanwhile, Gangjee had the honours of recording the season’s first hole-in-one after his shot, which surprised even himself, on the third hole dropped into the cup from 169 yards.
“It was a horrible shot but it still went into the hole. I didn’t really see it going into the hole because I was blocked and I could only see it land. As I was walking towards the hole, I still couldn’t see the ball and to my surprise it was in the hole,” said Gangjee.
That hole-in-one lifted him up to a share of the lead then after early co-leaders Toni Karjalainen of Finland and Australia’s Marcus Both had dropped a shot each on the second hole.
But the Indian slipped down to tied-third after he bogeyed the par-four eighth.
He made a quick recovery with a birdie on the ninth before starting his inward nine in 33. However, after posting another bogey on the 16th, Gangjee could only end the day in tied-third.
“I think I made my first two bogeys of the tournament today. But overall, I’m pretty happy with the way I’m scoring even though I’m not really satisfied with the way I’m hitting it. But let’s see what happens tomorrow,” said Gangjee.
LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 213 (3 x 71)
199 Tetsuji Hiratsuka (Jpn) 64 68 67
200 Unho Park (Aus) 65 69 66
202 James Kamte (Rsa) 71 63 68, Rahil Gangjee (Ind) 65 69 68
203 Juvic Pagunsan (Phi) 67 71 65, Ted Oh (Kor) 68 66 69, Marcus Both (Aus) 63 68 72
204 Toni Karjalainen (Fin) 66 64 74
205 Danny Chia (Mal) 67 69 69, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 69 68 68, Iain Steel (Mal) 72 63 70, Mark Purser (Nzl) 68 66 71
206 Young Nam (Kor) 72 68 66, Tim Stewart (Aus) 69 69 68, Daisuke Maruyama (Jpn) 71 66 69, Gavin Flint (Aus) 67 69 70, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 68 69 69, Matthew Griffin (Aus) 71 66 69, Rhys Davies (Wal) 69 66 71, Hirotaro Naito (Jpn) 67 66 73
207 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha) 71 68 68, Tatsuya Sato (Jpn) 74 64 69, Michio Matsumura (Jpn) 71 65 71, Atthaphon Prathummanee (Tha) 68 68 71, Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 66 68 73
208 Kim Hyung-Tae (Kor) 70 69 69, Frankie Minoza (Phi) 69 71 68, Nakul Vichitryuthasastr (Tha) 69 69 70, Darren Beck (Aus) 72 66 70
209 Nathan Uebergang (Aus) 70 69 70, Jason Norris (Aus) 72 67 70, Andrew Marshall (Eng) 70 69 70, Gaurav Ghei (Ind) 69 69 71, Adam Groom (Aus) 67 70 72, Wu Ashun (Chn) 67 71 71, Kim Bi-O (Kor) 69 68 72, Mo Joong-Kyung (Kor) 66 70 73, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 66 69 74, Noh Seung-Yul (Kor) 68 66 75
210 Kwanchai Tannin (Tha) 70 70 70, Simon Griffiths (Eng) 68 71 71, Guido Van Der Valk (Ned) 72 67 71, Airil Rizman (Mal) 73 66 71, Somkiat Srisanga (Tha) 69 68 73, Adam Blyth (Aus) 70 66 74, Andrew Dodt (Aus) 67 69 74, Michael Light (Aus) 68 67 75
211 Wisut Artjanawat (Tha) 67 73 71, Chawalit Plaphol (Tha) 71 69 71, Yoshinobu Tsukada (Jpn) 71 69 71, John Parry (Eng) 73 67 71, Somchai Pongpaew (Tha) 72 68 71, Rohan Blizard (Aus) 70 69 72, Rory Hie (Ina) 71 67 73, Kenichi Kuboya (Jpn) 69 66 76, Pariya Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 69 65 77
212 Lin Wen-Hong (Tpe) 72 68 72, S. Siva Chandhran (Mal) 68 70 74, George Coetzee (Rsa) 70 68 74
213 Tatsuhiko Ichihara (Jpn) 68 72 73, Digvijay Singh (Ind) 71 68 74, Motoharu Mukai (Jpn) 71 69 73, Angelo Que (Phi) 71 67 75
214 Nozomi Kawahara (Jpn) 68 72 74, Park Jun-Won (Kor) 70 70 74, Kim Hyung-Sung (Kor) 71 67 76, Bryan Saltus (USA) 72 64 78, Akinori Tani (Jpn) 70 66 78
215 Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 72 68 75
216 Scott Barr (Aus) 69 71 76, Tony Carolan (Aus) 71 68 77
218 Zaw Moe (Mya) 68 72 78