Osaka: Park Sung-joon of Korea continued his formidable form after shooting a third round three-under-par 68 to charge into a two-shot lead at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open on Saturday.<\/p>\n
The slightly-built Korean, who has not missed a single cut in Japan this season, overcame the tough playing conditions with four birdies against one bogey for a seven-under-par 206 at the Ibaraki Country Club.<\/p>\n
Asian Tour honorary member and Asia\u2019s first male Major champion Y.E. Yang of Korea sank a 15 footer eagle putt on the last for a 69 to share second place with Japan\u2019s Tetsuji Hiratsuka (71), Masahiro Kawamura (71) and Akio Sadakata (68).\n<\/p>\n
Overnight leader Pariya Junhasavasdikul of Thailand slipped back to tied sixth after posting a disappointing 74 to trail Park by three shots at the Y150 million (approximately US$1.48 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.<\/p>\n
Park has enjoyed a wonderful season in Japan after changing to a new putter earlier this year which resulted in him winning in September and posting three other runner-up finishes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI struggled with my putting last year and I changed to the mallet putter and it really helped me out. I started off well in the season and that gave me a lot of confidence,\u201d said the 27-year-old Park.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is going to be another day and another 18 holes. I just got to focus on my game. It doesn\u2019t matter who I\u2019m playing against. I\u2019m feeling pretty comfortable with my game so I should be good,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Yang, who defeated Tiger Woods at the 2009 US PGA Championship, was even-par after 17 holes but produced a grandstand finish when his pinpoint approach shot landed 15-feet from the hole.<\/p>\n
\u201cI only played good for 18 holes but I\u2019m still happy! The wind was blowing quite strongly but my swing has been the same. I think I have a good chance. Park is playing good but I\u2019m only two shots back,\u201d said Yang, who is making his debut at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open.<\/p>\n
Pariya, a two-time Asian Tour winner, struggled to take advantage of his opening two birdies when he returned with five bogeys including three straight dropped shots from the eighth hole.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess I tried to push it a little bit too much after making early birdies. It is a lesson to learn. I won\u2019t do anything differently except stay patient. If I shoot three or four-under, maybe it might get me to the top,\u201d said the 29-year-old Pariya.<\/p>\n
Scores after round 3 of the 2013 Asia-Pacific Open Golf Championship Panasonic being played at the par 71, 7328 Yards Ibaraki Country Club course (a- denotes amateur):<\/strong><\/p>\n 206 – PARK Sung-Joon (KOR) 71-67-68.<\/p>\n 208 – Akio SADAKATA (JPN) 75-65-68, Y.E. YANG (KOR) 71-68-69, Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 69-68-71, Tetsuji HIRATSUKA (JPN) 71-66-71.<\/p>\n 209 – Brad KENNEDY (AUS) 72-66-71, SONG Young-han (KOR) 69-69-71, Pariya JUNHASAVASDIKUL (THA) 65-70-74.<\/p>\n 210 – Kazuhiro YAMASHITA (JPN) 73-67-70, Wade ORMSBY (AUS) 72-67-71.<\/p>\n 211 – David OH (USA) 75-67-69, LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) 73-71-67, Yoshikazu HAKU (JPN) 72-66-73.<\/p>\n 212 – LEE Kyoung-hoon (KOR) 70-73-69, Koumei ODA (JPN) 70-71-71, Rory HIE (INA) 69-69-74.<\/p>\n 213 – Kazuhiko HOSOKAWA (JPN) 71-68-74, Shingo KATAYAMA (JPN) 63-73-77.<\/p>\n 214 – LU Wei-chih (TPE) 72-71-71, Prayad MARKSAENG (THA) 70-73-71, KIM Sung-yoon (KOR) 70-71-73, Yuki KONO (JPN) 76-65-73, WU Ashun (CHN) 74-71-69.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Osaka: Park Sung-joon of Korea continued his formidable form after shooting a third round three-under-par 68 to charge into a two-shot lead at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open on Saturday.<\/p>\n The slightly-built Korean, who has not missed a single cut in Japan this season, overcame the tough playing conditions with four birdies against one bogey for a seven-under-par 206 at the Ibaraki Country Club.<\/p>\n Asian Tour honorary member and Asia\u2019s first male Major champion Y.E. Yang of Korea sank a 15 footer eagle putt on the last for a 69 to share second place with Japan\u2019s Tetsuji Hiratsuka (71), Masahiro Kawamura (71) and Akio Sadakata (68).<\/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-17829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-world-golf-news"],"yoast_head":"\n