THAILAND REPORT FROM ASIAN TOUR, LEADING SCORES

MO IS GOLF KING FOR THE DAY

Hua Hin, Thailand: South Korea’s Mo Joong-kyung took his place atop the leaderboard with a battling third round two-under-par 70 under tough scoring conditions at the US$1 million King’s Cup Golf Hua Hin on Saturday.

With swirling wind speed that reached as high as 36 kph during the day, Mo stood tall amidst the gusty conditions to mark his card with six birdies and four bogeys for a three-day total of nine-under-par 207.

Philippines’ Angelo Que carded the day’s lowest score after firing a 67 to take a share of second place alongside home favourite Prom Meesawat at the Black Mountain Golf Club.

Three-time Asian Tour winner Chapchai Nirat of Thailand matched his opening round of 68 to take fourth place while compatriot Prayad Marksaeng made his move with a 71 to share fifth place with Sweden’s Rikard Karlberg at the Asian Tour season-ending event.

Three bogeys in his first five holes gave no indication that Mo would be able to make his charge towards the top. 

However, birdies on the sixth and eight holes changed that equation as players were blown off course.

“At the start, I didn’t expect the winds to be so strong. I knew it would be strong but didn’t expect it to be that strong. I managed to figure out how to combat the winds and I played pretty well coming down the stretch,” sad Mo.

The 42-year-old, who had credited a disciplined fitness regime for helping him keep pace with his younger rivals, then asserted his authority with another birdie on the 13.

He dropped another shot on the par-four 15^th  stormed back to the summit by closing with three birdies starting from the 16^th hole.

“I’m still feeling fine after 54 holes,” said Mo of his fitness level.

“I’ve won before and I know what it’s like to be in the final round and playing the game of your life for the last 18 holes. I just got to do what I’ve got to do which is to play each hole at a time and give myself lots of chances,” added the two-time Asian Tour winner.
Scot Simon Yates is well out of the picture with deteriorating rounds of 70, 73 and 79 for 222 and a share of 66th place in a field of 71 qualifiers at halfway.

 LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS

Par 216 (3x72) Yardage: 7,386

207 MO Joong-kyung (KOR) 69-68-70.

208 Angelo QUE (PHI) 66-75-67, Prom MEESAWAT (THA) 65-71-72.

209 Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 68-73-68.

210 Prayad MARKSAENG (THA) 68-71-71, Rikard KARLBERG (SWE) 65-71-74.

211 Anirban LAHIRI (IND) 69-71-71.

212 Scott HEND (AUS) 72-71-69, Mardan MAMAT (SIN) 71-70-71.

213 Rahil GANGJEE (IND) 71-71-71, Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 71-70-72, Poosit SUPUPRAMAI (THA) 73-68-72, Carlos PIGEM (ESP) 71-69-73, KANG Sung-hoon (SKOR) 72-68-73, Alex CEJKA (GER) 70-69-74.
SELECTED SCORE
222 Simon Yates (Scotland) 70 73 79 (T66)

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