Australia’s Min Woo Lee led the US$1million SJM Macao Open for the third successive day after firing a six-under-par 65 today for a staggering tournament total of 22-under, and a narrow two-shot lead over Poom Saksansin from Thailand.
Poom fired an equally impressive 64 here at Macau Golf and Country Club, with Korea’s Jaewoong Eom two back following a 65, thanks to a brilliant eagle on 18.
Related: Min Woo Lee keeps dealing in birdies at Macao Open
New Zealand’s Ben Campbell (68) and Meenwhee Kim (69) from Korea are four strokes further adrift.
Playing aggressively and with supreme confidence 25-year-old Lee, brother of LPGA Tour star Minjee Lee, made an eagle, five birdies and one bogey – which was only his second dropped shot of the week – to put himself in position to win for the first time in two years and claim his maiden Asian Tour title.
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He was pushed all the way by playing partner Poom, who in typical Poom fashion drew level with him on the back nine and refused to capitulate.
The diminutive 30-year-old birdied four in a row from the seventh to catch his Australian opponent before Poom handed the lead back when he dropped a shot on 12. Lee went two ahead after a superb eagle on the par-five 13th, where he hit his second to 10 feet and holed out, before a birdie on 15 put him three in front. However, Poom rallied and birdied the last two holes, while Lee also made birdie on 18.
Lee will have his work cut out for him tomorrow as Poom won the Yeangder TPC three weeks ago for his first victory in five years and is known for being a ferocious competitor and giant killer.
He famously beat England’s Paul Casey in the singles at the 2018 EurAsia Cup and combined with Korean Sunghoon Kang to defeat Henrik Stenson and Alex Levy in a four-ball match 5&4.
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And later that year he won the Indonesian Masters for the second time, upstaging the tournament’s two big name players Justin Rose from England and Stenson.
He is also a renowned strong frontrunner having won all four of his Asian Tour titles having led going into the final day and claimed one of those, the 2017 TAKE Solution Masters, wire-to-wire.
Said Lee: “You know, all the boys that I was playing with they were going pretty hard, so I knew I needed to just keep my composure and the back nine was really good.”
A par-save on the par-three 11h proved to be crucial. An uncharacteristic-wayward tee shot there left him with a difficult 20-yard pitch which he landed 15-feet away and bravely holed.
“Yeah, it was massive,” he said.
“I mean, probably worst swing of the week on 11. You know the chip shot was a bit scary. It wasn’t the best of lies and it came out pretty good, and as long as I give myself a putt I am happy. So yeah, that was huge, I knew I needed to get some momentum going my way, missed a lot of putts early on.”
Poom made nine birdies and two bogeys and is in contention for the second week in a row having tied for third in last week’s International Series Singapore.
“I think I have to hit nine under tomorrow to stop Lee,” said Poom.
“If he plays like he is playing now, it will be difficult, even though I am only two shots behind. We’ll see. I am going to hit some balls on the range now.”
Eom was the third player in the group and appeared to be slipping too far behind before making the shot of week, holing his chip shot from 25 yards on the par-five 18th. The ball took an eternity to trickle into the hole, adding to the drama.
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“It happens sometimes,” laughed Eom, joint second in Singapore last Sunday.
“Hit a great tee shot, agonised between a three or five wood for my second, chose five but it was finished short. I was focused on making a birdie but unbelievably it slowly rolled in. Like I said yesterday, I was aiming to shoot six under, and that’s what I did. Plan the same tomorrow.”
