SEOUL, May 4: Thailand’s Thammanoon Sriroj moved closer to his first Asian PGA victory for three years after firing a six-under-par 66 in the third round of the Maekyung Open on Saturday.
Thammanoon, who also returned a 66 in the second round, tops the leaderboard on 15-under-par 201, two clear of Korean amateur Lee Seung-yong, who followed his 64 on day two with a third round 69.
America’s Ahmad Bateman is third on 12-under after firing a 71, while five players share fourth spot a further shot behind including defending champion Choi Gwang-soo, who posted 68.
Thammanoon, who won the last of his four Asian PGA titles at the 1999 Tianjin Open in China, toured the Nam Seoul Country Club with six birdies. He made sure of the lead by picking up shots at the 17th and 18th.
Pakistan’s Taimur Hussain was languishing eight strokes behind the leader in a group of nine golfers despite a round of 68.
Leading third round scores (a denotes amateur):
201 — Thammanoon Sriroj (Thailand)) 69, 66, 66.
203 — a-Lee Seung-yong (South Korea) 70, 64, 69.
204 — Ahmad Bateman (US) 67, 66, 71.
205 — Choi Gwang-soo (South Korea) 71, 66, 68; Park Do-kyu (South Korea) 66, 67, 72; Yeh Wei-Tze (Taiwan) 70, 68, 67; Park Nam-sin (South Korea) 68, 68, 69.
206 — Kang Wook-soon (South Korea) 65, 71, 70.
207 — Kim Felton (Australia) 67, 71, 69.
208 — Edward Loar (US) 71, 67, 70; Brad Kennedy (Australia) 73, 68, 67; Chawalit Plaphol (Thailand) 72, 70, 66; Kim Dae-sub (South Korea) 71, 71, 66.
209 — Scott Kamman (US) 69, 67, 73; Rick Gibson (Canada) 71, 68, 70; Simon Yates (Britain) 71, 69, 69; Anthony Kang (South Korea) 75, 69, 65; Choi Sang-ho (South Korea) 70, 69, 70; Yang Yong-eun (South Korea) 70, 70, 69; Lu Wen-Teh (Taiwan) 69, 70, 70; Hsieh Yu-Shu (Taiwan) 72, 71, 66; Taimur Hussain (Pakistan) 69, 72, 68.
Choi shoots into lead
NEW ORLEANS (Louisiana): K.J. Choi of South Korea took advantage of calmer conditions to shoot a seven-under-par 65 for the early second-round lead in the $4.5 million Compaq Classic Friday.
Choi, at 11-under-par, leads Americans Bryce Molder and Dan Forsman, the first round leader who was still out on the course at eight-under-par.
Australian Geoff Ogilvy was in fourth place at seven-under-par after shooting a 67, including a five-hole stretch where he was seven-under-par.
Defending champion David Toms finished his second round at six-under-par, five off the lead.
In his third year on the PGA Tour, Choi has never finished better than a tie for fourth at Greensboro in 2001 and has never led a PGA Tour event.
After a birdie-par-bogey start Choi went seven-under through 13 holes to take the lead.
Choi has been playing well over the last month, finishing in a tie for eighth in Atlanta at the BellSouth and a tie for seventh last week at Greensboro.
The two top-10s moved him up the world ranking from 178th to 149th.
SECOND ROUND SCORES
133 K.J. Choi (South Korea) 68 65 134 Dan Forsman 65 69
135 Tim Clark (South Africa) 68 67
136 Bryce Molder 69 67, Billy Andrade 70 66
137 Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) 70 67, John Rollins 68 69, Rich Beem 67 70
138 Chris DiMarco 72 66, David Toms 69 69, Steve Flesch 71 67, Scott Verplank 69 69
139 Steve Stricker 69 70, Duffy Waldorf 73 66, Dudley Hart 68 71, Fulton Allem (South Africa) 70 69, Phil Mickelson 73 66, Jeff Maggert 69 70, J.J. Henry 70 69, Shaun Micheel 69 70.
INFANT HURT
KUALA LUMPUR: A golfer practicing his swing at a soccer field hit a ball that sailed into a house and struck a 16-month-old baby, the infant’s mother said Saturday.
The baby vomited and had a swollen forehead but escaped without any internal injuries, Natrah Maaidah told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from her home in the eastern town of Kuala Lipis.
Natrah said she was breast-feeding her daughter, Farrah Diva, late Thursday in the living room of her home located about 20 meters (66 feet) from the soccer field.
She said the golf ball sailed through the open front door and hit the baby on forehead.
“It happened so fast... next thing I knew my daughter was crying and there was a golf ball on my lap,” she said.
Natrah said her husband had lodged a police report against the golfer, who lives in the neighborhood.—APP/AP