Report by Anand Datla
August 01, 2015: Khalin Joshi made amends for his 73 in the second round with a much more controlled effort in the third round of the Taifong Open. The Indian shot 70 to climb three places to lie fourth on the leaderboard. Joshi is at 7-under through 54 holes. Jordan Sherratt of Australia recovered from a slow start to stay on track to win his first career title after shooting a one-under-par 71 in the third round of the Taifong Open on Saturday.
The 27-year-old totalled 10-under-par 206 and will need to hold his ground against Thailand’s Natthapong Niyomchon, who fired a 69 to trail by one shot in the US$160,000 Asian Development Tour (ADT) event.
Yeh Wei-tze of Chinese Taipei shot a 69 to charge into contention on a 208 total while local hopes Sung Mao-chang, Kao Teng and Lee Chieh-po were a further shot back in tied fourth place alongside India’s Khalin Joshi at the Taifong Golf Club.
Sherratt, who turned professional in 2010, got off to a slow start with bogeys on one and three but steadied ship with a pair of birdies after the turn. Another two more birdies against one bogey earned him a slender one-shot lead heading into the final round.
“It feels good to be in the lead. I didn’t play my best on the front nine but I started to feel okay and eased back into the round when I birdied 10 and 11 from 10 feet. The putter let me down a few times today so hopefully I don’t three putt as many holes on the last day,” he said.
Without a win so far, Sherratt reckons that he needs to stay patient to stand a chance to win. “I need to try and stay patient like what I’ve been doing. I’ve never really thought about why I haven’t won yet but I’ll go out there tomorrow and see what happens. I try to be relaxed but sometimes I’m fuming on the inside,” he laughed.
The 26-year-old Natthapong turned in 32 and was cruising along nicely until a poor tee shot resulted in a double bogey on the 16th hole.
The view of the Chang Hwa city from the Taifong Golf Club will serve as a stress reliever for the Thai who is determined to secure a first professional win since joining the play-for-pay ranks in 2009.
“I like this golf course a lot. The view of the city is very good and it makes me focus better. I feel very comfortable here so I really want to be a champion,” said Natthapong.
India’s Joshi was on nine-under after 17 holes but struggled to escape from the greenside bunker in two attempts which caused him to drop two shots and settle for a 70. He is three shots back from the leader.
“I was playing really well but double bogeyed the last hole from the centre fairway. Overall I felt that I played better. I just need to stay focus and I think I can go low in the final round. I’ll just play my own game tomorrow,” said the 22-year-old.
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- anand datla
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