Dev 01, 2018: India’s Shiv Kapur bounced back with his resilient play at the penultimate round of the Queen’s Cup hosted by Jaidee Foundation on Saturday. Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines stayed accurate off the tees to post a four-under-par 66 and storm into the outright lead.
Shiv Kapur fired a bogey-free round of five-under-par 65 in the third round to make a commendable adjustment on the leaderboard. He is lying at T8 along with other Indian Amardip Malik, who shot one-over 71.
“I played pretty well considering the conditions today. I got off to a bit of slow start, made a couple of par saves to keep the round together today,” said Shiv. “Then I caught fire on hole seven, and birdied three holes in a row.
“I felt comfortable on the back nine with the confidence coming off those three birdies but the wind came up in the back nine and got a little trickier and pins were a bit harder than the first two days. So you have to kind of respect that and aim away from the pins.”
“The whole week I felt like I played well but didn’t hold it together. So I’m glad that I birdied those three holes because I got over my demons of the first nine which I haven t been doing well on the past two rounds.”
The 24-year-old Tabuena drew encouragement from his father Luigi watching him on the sidelines, to birdie three of his closing four holes and seize the lead late in the day by two shots over defending champion Jazz Janewattananond at the US$500,000 event held at Legacy Golf Club.
Tabuena, who stayed bogey-free for 37 holes till his scorecard was marred by a bogey on hole two, traded six birdies against two bogeys for a 16-under-par 194 total, at the event hosted by three-time Asian Tour number one Thongchai Jaidee.
Two-time Asian Tour winner Jazz, who had a hot putter to thank for, only needed 21 putts in his round of 68 to take second place on his own and remain on course for a successful title defence.
Thailand’s Natipong Srithong, who started the round with a five-shot deficit, put his foot on the gas pedal and shot a 65 to share third place on 197 with overnight leader, American Johannes Veerman, who battled to a 72.
Natipong’s solid bogey-free round highlighted by five birdies set him up nicely for a second title charge since his maiden victory in Philippines in 2015.
American Sihwan Kim, currently ranked eighth on the Habitat for Humanity Standings, was among three bunched in fifth place at the 11th edition of the event held in honour of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit.
Source: Asian Tour
