Wang paces Singapore tilt

SINGAPORE (AFP) — South Korea's Wang Jeung-hun fired six birdies in seven holes in his back-nine to share the third-round lead with Spain's Alejandro del Rey at the Singapore Classic Saturday.

Wang completed his country's mandatory military obligations in July last year and credited his mental toughness for putting together a commanding round, posting a six-under-par 66 at the Laguna National Golf Resort Club.

"I missed golf a lot when I had to be away from the game for 18 months. I was just shooting guns every day," said the 27-year-old.

"I had to work on my short game as it got rusty. But mentally, I improved a lot. I'm playing a lot better than before now."

Wang marked his card with only one birdie on the par-five three in his opening front-nine. But his game came to life after the turn when he went on a stunning five-hole birdie blitz, starting from the par-four 12.

His charge was briefly halted after he dropped a shot on 17 but he recovered quickly with a closing birdie on 18 to sign for a three-day total of 14-under-par 202.

Del Rey got off to a blistering start with three opening birdies. He made five straight pars before dropping a shot on nine to turn in 33.

The Spaniard then mixed his card with four birdies, two bogeys and an eagle in his inward-nine for a round of 66.

"To get it going that early was a great feeling. I thought I didn't play as well as yesterday but still managed to get a low round," he said.

"It was still a good round to go out and shoot six-under without my best stuff."

Chinese amateur Ding Wenyi, who took the second-round lead after returning early to complete his four remaining holes, had a round to forget as he signed for a 76 to slip to a share of 21st place at the Singapore Classic, with the DP World Tour returning to Singapore for the first time since 2014.