Kochhar not taking position for granted as he targets crown
Karandeep Kochhar conquered the beast known as Wack Wack East like no one has done in the last 25 years and the 26-year-old from India gave himself that chance he set out to have at the start of the week with another great 18 holes separating him from an Asian Tour breakthrough.
Kochhar drained seven birdies in shooting a flawless seven-under-par 65 to wrest the Philippine Golf Championship lead by two over an international quartet, even as Keanu Jahns was left as the Filipino with the best chance to win on Sunday after a 70 kept him just four shots off the lead.
“That’s what one can ask for, right, to have a chance to win on Sunday,” Kochhar asked after the mind-boggling round reminiscent of the course record 64 that the late great Cassius Casas authored in the 2001 Philippine Open. “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,” he added as he seeks to improve on a career-best Asian Tour finish of second place chalked up in the BNI Indonesian Masters three years ago. “I’ll try my best tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”
Kochhar takes a 208 aggregate into the final round on Sunday as he tries to ward off a cavalry of steady players.
Sarut Vongchaisit of Thailand, who led or held a piece of the lead after the first two rounds, fired a lukewarm 71, like South Korea’s Cho Woo-young and Travis Smyth of Australia, as the trio remained clumped together after starting the day tied for the lead. They trail the Indian by two, along with Ian Snyman of South Africa, who submitted a 70 to join the group.
Upset chance
Jahns, meanwhile, cracked par for the third straight round and has the perfect chance to stage an upset, being four shots down and with practically none of the pacesetters looking.
“I’ll stick to the same game plan,” Jahns, regarded as the longest hitter on the local tour, said as he guns for his first international pro win. “I just didn’t make too many putts today, so hopefully, I put myself in better positions (to make putts) tomorrow.
“I will not pay attention to what other (players) are doing (in the final round),” Jahns added. “If I am able to do that, well, I’ll put on a good result.”
Carl Corpus fired a 71 and caught Filipino Canadian Brycen Ko, who started the day tied with Jahns, at 215, seven shots off the pace. Ko skidded to a 73 and lost precious ground.
