Saturday, March 16, 2013

SCOT SIMON YATES CELEBRATES BIRTHDAY BY MOVING INTO JT FOURTH

 
BANGKOK, Thailand - Brazilian Lucas Lee drained an eight-foot birdie putt on the last on Saturday to snatch a one-stroke lead over defending champion Chris Wood of England and China's Hu Mu after three rounds of the U.S. $1 million Thailand Open at Thana City Golf & Sports Club. 
Lee's rounds of 65, 67 and 65 leave him 19 under for the tournament, which is jointly sanctioned by OneAsia and the Japan Golf Tour Organisation with earnings to count for both Orders of Merit.
Thai-based Scot Simon Yates (pictured) celebrated his 43rd birthday with a 64, to share fourth place at 17 under with overnight leader Scott Strange of Australia who carded a 68.  Born in Brazil to émigré Korean parents, Lee finished seventh at Q-School in 2012 and parlayed that into a top 50 finish on the OneAsia Order of Merit last year.
Although he has won a couple of one-day professional tournaments and finished second four times on the Canadian Tour, the 25-year-old is still seeking his breakthrough victory on a major circuit.
He refused to be intimidated on Saturday despite playing with defending champion Wood (65) and three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington -- who slipped out of contention with a 75.
"After the first hole you try to forget who they are and try to beat them like any other of the guys, but they do hit the ball very well," said Lee, who is fluent in English, Korean and Portuguese
"It was a good learning experience. Tomorrow I'm just going to try and be as positive as possible, while also keeping it simple."
Wood, who made his breakthrough professional victory at this tournament last year and followed it up with victory at the European Tour's Qatar Masters in January, said he was delighted so far with his defence of the title.
"I'm really pleased with my efforts so far. I came here to put in a good defence," he said.
"It will take something in the mid 60s to win."
Hu, another OneAsia regular but with victory under his belt from China's domestic tour, credited an improved tournament strategy for his performance. 
"I have been playing quite awful on the last days of tournaments, so what I have been doing recently is try to make a game plan for the entire week and then stick to it," he said.
"I've been doing quite well on that, and so hopefully I can do the same tomorrow." 
Best of the local challengers was Prayad Marksaeng, who started with five birdies in-a-row for his 65 and shares sixth place at 16 under.
The round of the day belonged to Japan's Katsumasa Miyamoto, who equalled the course record with a 63 after making the turn in 29.


  THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3x72) Yardage 6,930
197 Lucas LEE (BRA) 65-67-65.
198 HU Mu (CHN) 67-67-64, Chris WOOD (ENG) 67-66-65.
199 Simon YATES (SCO) 66-69-64, Scott STRANGE (AUS) 66-65-68.
200 Prayad MARKSAENG (THA) 68-67-65, Terry PILKADARIS (AUS) 68-64-68.
201 David SMAIL (NZL) 69-66-66, Yoshinori FUJIMOTO (JPN) 67-67-67, David McKENZIE (AUS) 65-68-68.
202 - Nick CULLEN (AUS) 69-67-66, Kazuhiro YAMASHITA (JPN) 70-66-66, Juvic PAGUNSAN (PHI) 67-69-66, Katsumasa MIYAMOTO (JPN) 73-66-63, CHO Min-gyu (KOR) 65-68-69, LEE Kyoung-hoon (KOR) 67-66-69.
203 - Daisuke MARUYAMA (JPN) 70-67-66, Wisut ARTJANAWAT (THA) 66-71-66, S K HO (KOR) 68-68-67, Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) 70-63-70, Brad SHILTON (NZL) 73-66-64.
204 - Scott LAYCOCK (AUS) 71-64-69, Toshinori MUTO (JPN) 69-69-66, Hideto TANIHARA (JPN) 67-67-70, David OH (USA) 69-65-70.
205 - Koumei ODA (JPN) 64-73-68, Shingo KATAYAMA (JPN) 72-65-68, Norio SHINOZAKI (JPN) 71-67-67, Yoshinobu TSUKADA (JPN) 68-68-69, PARK Il-hwan (KOR) 70-66-69, Michael HENDRY (NZL) 71-64-70, Masamichi UEHIRA (JPN) 70-65-70, Brad KENNEDY (AUS) 69-70-66, John Young KIM (USA) 65-68-72, HWANG Jung-gon (KOR) 65-68-72, Sattaya SUPUPRAMAI (THA) 68-71-66.
206 - Stephen DARTNALL (AUS) 69-68-69, Azuma YANO (JPN) 67-65-74, Jason KANG (USA) 71-68-67.
207 - Tomohiro KONDO (JPN) 70-67-70, Matthew GRIFFIN (AUS) 65-71-71, KIM Do-hoon 752 (KOR) 70-68-69, Thaworn WIRATCHANT (THA) 70-68-69, Yoshikazu HAKU (JPN) 68-71-68, Stephen LEANEY (AUS) 69-70-68.
208 - Kiyoshi MIYAZATO (JPN) 71-66-71, Thammanoon SRIROJ (THA) 70-67-71, SONG Young-han (KOR) 70-67-71, KIM Dae-sub (KOR) 70-68-70, KIM Kyung-tae (KOR) 70-68-70, Tetsuji HIRATSUKA (JPN) 70-69-69, Kaname YOKOO (JPN) 71-68-69, Rattanon WANNASRICHAN (THA) 69-70-69, Padraig HARRINGTON (IRL) 67-66-75.
209 - PARK Sang-hyun (KOR) 68-68-73, Andre STOLZ (AUS) 69-69-71, Pawin INGKHAPRADIT (THA) 71-68-70, Koichiro KAWANO (JPN) 71-68-70, David BRANSDON (AUS) 72-67-70.
210 - Rory HIE (INA) 67-70-73, Akinori TANI (JPN) 69-70-71.
211 - Jason NORRIS (AUS) 68-70-73.
212 - PARK Eun-shin (KOR) 70-67-75, KIM Do-hoon 753 (KOR) 70-68-74, Udorn DUANGDECHA (THA) 72-67-73, Yasuharu IMANO (JPN) 67-72-73.
213 - Tawan PHONGPHUN (am, THA) 70-68-75, Somkiat SRISANGA (THA) 70-69-74, Keiichiro FUKABORI (JPN) 68-71-74.
214 - Hiroshi IWATA (JPN) 70-69-75, PARK Jun-won (KOR) 70-69-75.
215 - Takashi KANEMOTO (JPN) 68-71-76.
 
 

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