DANNY STILL LEADING IN GLENMARIE MASTERS IN SELANGOR

NEWS RELEASE FROM ASIAN TOUR

Shah Alam, Selangor: Danny Chia continued to lead the packed Malaysian leaderboard in the third round of the PGM Northport Glenmarie Masters with Nicholas Fung and Mohamad Azman Basharudin trailing closely today.

Chia, the leader for three rounds, remained in pole position despite shooting a two-over-par 73 for seven-under-par 209 to lead by three shots over Fung and Azman, who both shot a 70 and 71 respectively at the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.

Another Malaysian M. Sasidaran (70) was bunched up in fourth with Shaun Malone (71) of England, Pavit Tangkamolprasert (73) of Thailand, Park Il-hwan (73) of Korea, Jakraphan Premsirigorn (74) of Thailand and ADT Order of Merit leader James Bowen (76) of the United States at the Glenmarie Golf and Country Club.

Chia, who is recovering from a stiff neck, was two-under for the day after five before his putter went cold and he dropped five shots in the next 10 holes. He was fortunate to birdie the last which kept him on track to become the first Malaysian to win an ADT title this year.

“My putting was an entirely different story today compared to the last two days. The pins were placed on difficult areas of the greens which explain the relatively high scores,” said Chia, who turned 40 last November.

He was delighted to capitalise on his overnight lead where he was four shots ahead of Bowen, who slipped down the leaderboard with a 76.

“I’m glad I had a big lead going into today’s round. I’m in a good position and it is nice to see some Malaysians behind me. Hopefully I can win it but if I don’t, I hope one of the Malaysians can do it,” added Chia.

After shooting a 73 in the first round, Fung, who earned his Asian Tour card at Qualifying School earlier this year, has slowly fought his way back into contention.

“It is good to be in contention. My game was okay and I’m glad with how I’ve been playing these last two days. I only had one bad round but now I’m looking forward to the last day,” said the bespectacled Sabahan.

Leading third round scores

209 - Danny CHIA (MAS) 67 68 74

212 - Nicholas FUNG (MAS) 73 69 70, Mohamad Azman BASHARUDIN (MAS) 71 70 71

215 - M. Sasidaran (MAS) 74 71 70, Shaun MALONE (ENG) 75 69 71, Pavit TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA) 70 72 73, PARK Il-hwan (KOR) 71 71 73, Jakraphan PREMSIRIGORN (THA) 73 68 74, James BOWEN (USA) 68 71 76

216 - Lindsay RENOLDS (CAN) 73 73 70, Michael BIBAT (PHI) 70 73 73, CHANG Tse-Peng (TPE) 70 71 75

217 - Mitsuhiko HASHIZUME (JPN) 71 74 72

218 - Ratchapol JANTAVARA (THA) 73 74 71, Takashi YOKOYAMA (JPN) 76 69 73, S. Siva Chandhran (MAS) 73 71 74, George GANDRANATA (INA) 71 73 74, Grant JACKSON (ENG) 70 71 77

219 - Sukree OTHMAN (MAS) 74 73 72, Anis HASSAN (MAS) 78 70 71, Pasamet POGAMNERD (THA) 74 70 75, Pasavee LERTVILAI (THA) 76 73 70, Iain STEEL (MAS) 69 74 76, Takuya YAMAUCHI (JPN) 71 78 70

220 - Kazumi TAKAHASHI (JPN) 73 74 73, Mhark FERNANDO (PHI) 76 71 73, George THACKER (ENG) 71 74 75, Kenneth DE SILVA (MAS) 69 76 75, LOW Khai Jei (A) (MAS) 74 74 72, Akhmal TARMIZEE (MAS) 72 73 75, S. Murthy (MAS) 70 73 77, Carl SANTOS-OCAMPO (PHI) 76 73 71