Taipei: Korean-American Chan Kim took advantage of a new swing change to grab the third round lead at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) with a four-under-par 68 on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The Asian Tour rookie, who won the Qualifying School in January, leads the chasing pack on 10-under-par 206 at the US$500,000 Asian Tour event staged at the Linkou International Golf and Country Club.<\/p>\n
Reigning Order of Merit winner Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand returned with a 71 while Chinese Taipei\u2019s Yeh Wei-tze posted a 67 courtesy of a chip-in eagle on the last to trail Kim by one-shot. Asian Development Tour (ADT) graduate Hsu Mong-nan was a further shot back.<\/p>\n
Jaako Makitalo of Finland carded a 65, the lowest round of the week, to share fifth place with Korea\u2019s Baek Seuk-hyun (69) and India\u2019s Chiragh Kumar, who shot a disappointing 74.\n<\/p>\n
The 23-year-old Kim, who has one top-10 result this season, stole the limelight with a refined swing which he worked on with his coach Scott Adland during the off-season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on the timing of my swing and making it simpler. It\u2019s helping a lot especially down the stretch where you get tired. It\u2019s very easy for you to swing out of sync but this week, my swing has a good tempo,\u201d said Kim.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of feel a pause at the top (of the swing) and a lot of people talked about it but that\u2019s my sensation. I feel like I should stay at the top for a quick second before making my down swing,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Kim started off strongly with three straight birdies from hole three and added a close range birdie on the last after hitting 12 straight pars.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just told myself to stay patient and keep grinding because birdies are not going to come easy out here. You got to work for the birdies so you have to keep trying to hit greens and hopefully make the putt,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Thaworn, the 2010 Yeangder TPC champion, played down his chances of winning his 16th Asian Tour title after struggling with his irons for the third day.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is really hard to say what will happen tomorrow. I haven\u2019t been hitting my irons good enough so I\u2019m just happy to shoot nine-under. I\u2019ll have to continue doing what I\u2019ve been doing and rely on my chipping and putting,\u201d said the 46-year-old Thaworn.<\/p>\n
The 40-year-old Yeh, who has one Asian Tour win in 2000, overcame the humid conditions to put himself in a strong position to become the second Chinese Taipei player after Lu Wei-chih to win the Yeangder TPC since 2011.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the past, I tend to mess up under such conditions but I told myself that I have to hang on. I want to bring glory to my country by winning on home soil. Therefore, I keep telling myself to do my best. I hope the other local players can play well too,\u201d said Yeh.<\/p>\n
Scores after round 3 of the Yeangder TPC being played at the par 72, 7125 Yards Linkou GCC course (a- denotes amateur):<\/strong><\/p>\n 206 – Chan KIM (USA) 70-68-68.<\/p>\n 207 – YEH Wei-tze (TPE) 73-67-67, Thaworn WIRATCHANT (THA) 69-67-71.<\/p>\n 208 – HSU Mong-nan (TPE) 69-68-71.<\/p>\n 211 – Jaakko MAKITALO (FIN) 73-73-65, BAEK Seuk-hyun (KOR) 73-69-69, Chiragh KUMAR (IND) 68-69-74.<\/p>\n 212 – LU Chien-soon (TPE) 72-72-68, Berry HENSON (USA) 71-70-71.<\/p>\n 213 – Angelo QUE (PHI) 74-72-67, CHAN Shih-chang (TPE) 71-71-71.<\/p>\n 214 – Gunn CHAROENKUL (THA) 72-75-67, Matthew STIEGER (AUS) 69-73-72, Thitiphun CHUAYPRAKONG (THA) 66-76-72, LAM Chih Bing (SIN) 72-70-72.<\/p>\n 215 – Sam CYR (USA) 75-70-70, SUNG Mao-chang (TPE) 70-74-71, Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) 71-72-72, Richard T. LEE (CAN) 74-68-73, Adam GROOM (AUS) 69-72-74, Tim STEWART (AUS) 70-69-76.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Taipei: Korean-American Chan Kim took advantage of a new swing change to grab the third round lead at the Yeangder Tournament Players Championship (TPC) with a four-under-par 68 on Saturday.<\/p>\n The Asian Tour rookie, who won the Qualifying School in January, leads the chasing pack on 10-under-par 206 at the US$500,000 Asian Tour event staged at the Linkou International Golf and Country Club.<\/p>\n Reigning Order of Merit winner Thaworn Wiratchant of Thailand returned with a 71 while Chinese Taipei\u2019s Yeh Wei-tze posted a 67 courtesy of a chip-in eagle on the last to trail Kim by one-shot. Asian Development Tour (ADT) graduate Hsu Mong-nan was a further shot back.<\/p>\n Jaako Makitalo of Finland carded a 65, the lowest round of the week, to share fifth place with Korea\u2019s Baek Seuk-hyun (69) and India\u2019s Chiragh Kumar, who shot a disappointing 74.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world-golf-news"],"yoast_head":"\n