American Sihwan Kim got on the birdie bullet train once again today at the Trust Golf Asian Mixed Stableford Challenge to take the third-round lead on 42 points at Siam Country Club’s Waterside Course.
Overnight leader Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen, her compatriot Natipong Srithong and Maja Stark from Sweden are second with 34 points, while Budsabakorn Sukapan from Thailand is fifth with 33.
Related: ‘Proud’ leader Chanettee on eagle-making spree
The innovative new $750,000 tournament is being jointly sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Ladies European Tour (LET).
View this post on Instagram
Sihwan showed just why he is currently ranked the Asian Tour’s No 1 player by carding an 11-under-par 61 – a remarkable round which was redemption for a very disappointing second round 76, that had followed his stunning 62 which saw him take the first-round lead.
Sihwan won the International Series Thailand at the beginning of March, which was surprisingly the first win of his 10-year professional career, and he has lost none of the momentum from that fine performance as he destroyed the course with an astonishing 11 birdies, for 22 points.
“I must be bipolar or something!” said 33-year-old Sihwan Kim, who struggled yesterday carding six bogeys and two birdies.
View this post on Instagram
“I don’t know, I just felt a little tired yesterday, but I got a really good sleep and came back out and tried to figure something out on the range. Got a feeling for something, still wasn’t very good off the tee. My putting has just been on fire, I just kept it in play and putted the lights out.
“I haven’t had a 10 under and 11 under in the same event before, that being said, it’s all about putting. I think I have been reading the lines a lot better than last week, last week I could not read them at all, but I think I am getting used to them.”
His lowest round ever in a tournament round came after five birdies on the front nine and six on the back, including on the last four.
The American’s victory last month was the culmination of a fine run of form on the Asian Tour which saw him play in the final pairing on Sunday on three occasions. He failed to secure top spot in those events – he was joint second in the Royal’s Cup, joint fourth in the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship, and fourth in the SMBC Singapore Open – but he is hot favourite to prevail tomorrow with a commanding eight-point lead.
View this post on Instagram
Wannasaen eagled the par-five 18th to register five points and leap up the leaderboard at the very end after a tough day on the course which saw her shoot 71.
She said: “Today my game plan wasn’t as good because my approach shots weren’t perfect like in yesterday’s round, but the eagle on the last hole was good because it was a long putt and I made it. Tomorrow I’m just going to focus on my shot and my routine, and I will try to do my best.”
Natipong fired a 69 to give himself a chance of winning his second Asian Tour title.
“Today my game was okay, but I had two three-putts two holes in a row, number 13 and 14. It was still okay, I hit a lot of greens and had a lot of chances for birdies and eagles,” he said.
“Tomorrow I will still follow my game plan, and if I can play like I did yesterday I think I will have a chance to win again. I hope so.”
Rising star Stark, who won three times last year in her rookie season including two LET titles, impressed again today finishing strongly by making birdie on 17 and 18.
View this post on Instagram
“I didn’t have a great feeling at the beginning, I started off with a bogey. I felt like it was a little bit of a struggle today. I don’t remember much from my round. I feel the heat, it is hot. I do like it when it is hot, but this is to the extreme,” said the 22 year old, who shot 67.
“I think I’m just going to keep going. I think in the first round I was maybe too aggressive with my mindset. I was too aggressive, but not confident enough in my shots so that didn’t work. I think I have a good balance from the past two rounds.”
