MANILA, Philippines — India’s Karandeep Kochhar delivered one of the best performances in years on the famous but difficult East Course of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club as he shot a seven-under par 65 to grab the lead after the third round of the Asian Tour’s Philippine Golf Championship presented by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) on Saturday, February 7 in Mandaluyong City.
Kochhar, 26, had a bogey-free round as he fired seven birdies, which gave him the course’s best round in the last 25 years, or since the late Felix “Cassius” Casas carded an eight-under par 64 back during the 2001 Philippine Open.
Kochhar is now at eight-under for a three-day tournament total of 208.
Down by four strokes at one-under entering the third round, Kochhar - despite the intermittent rain showers - quickly made his presence felt when he birdied four of the first six holes - on 1, 3, 4 and 6 - of the tournament that offers a total prize purse of US$500,000 from the Asian Tour and the National Golf Association of the Philippines, the sport’s governing body in the country.
Kochhar, who also made birdies on 11, 12 and 17, is now in position to capture his first championship in the Asian Tour, which offers $90,000 going to the winner - an event backed by Bingo Plus and the MVP Sports Foundation.
“I think it's... obviously this golf course is really hard, but I think I played well. Of course, we had a little bit of rain as well today, it was tough to manage rain, the golf course and yourself,” said Kochar, who turned pro in 2017 after winning the All Indian Amateur in 2016 and has played in the Asian Tour in 2022, placing second overall at the BNI Indonesian Masters in 2023.
“I stuck to my plan, which was to try and hit as many greens as possible, give myself as many opportunities as I can for birdie, which I did. I was lucky enough to hold some putts and shoot a birdie.”
“I think I hit my irons really well. I think that was the key. I hit a lot of greens, so there were a lot of stress-free pars, a stress-free round. So that's really fortunate. With the wind, to shoot 7-under on this course, you have to be a little lucky. I think all of those things come right. I don't think I could have played any better today,” he added.
Kochhar, who received $10,000 from Wack Wack led by its chairman Benjamin Abalos given to the player with the lowest score for the day, said that his goal is to keep his focus going to the final round.
“That's what one can ask for, right? To have a chance to win on Sunday. And if I was at this position, if you asked me this three days ago, I would have taken it. So, I don't want to take this position for granted, obviously. And I'll try my best tomorrow and we'll see what happens.
“Same approach. Try and hit as many fairways and greens as possible and put as many putts for birdies as I can and stress-free pars. It'll be easier said than done because (Sunday) obviously there will be pressure in the final round, trying to win my first Asian Tournament. But I'm excited for the challenge and yeah, let's hope for the best,” he added.
Travis Smyth of Australia, Wooyoung Cho of South Korea, Sarut Vongchaisit of Thailand, who were in a four-way tie at five-under entering the third day, are two strokes behind at 210 with Ian Snyman of South Africa.
Smyth had the lead at seven-under following birdies on 3 and 4, but it was only for a brief moment as he fell back to five-under when he bogeyed on 6 and 9. His birdie on 11 put him back to six-under, eventually tying Cho, Vongchaisit and Snyman for second to fifth places going to the final round.
Pavit Tangkamolprasert of Thailand is at solo sixth place at 211 after a third round 68, while Filipino Keanu Jahns remains in contention after a third round 70. With his back-to-back 71 in the first two days, he now has a three-day score of 212, tied for seventh to ninth spots with Jeunghun Wang of South Korea and American Marcus Plunkett.
"I stick to my same game plan today because I was hitting it pretty good. I just didn't make too many putts, so hopefully I leave myself in better positions tomorrow (Sunday) because of the position I was in today," said Jahns.
"Just try to hit the fairway, don't be too aggressive, get it middle of the green, then hopefully with some good putting, I'll put in a good score. Just trying to stick to my game plan, not paying attention to what other people are doing, and if I'm able to do that well, I'll put in a good result," he added
At 10th to 12th are Chen Guxin of China, Poosit Supupramai and Sarit Suwannarut of Thailand with 214, while Carl Jano Corpus and Brycen Ko of the Philippines are tied for 13th to 16th places with Matt Killen of England and Hung Chien Yao of Chinese Taipei all with similar 215. TMT