Birdie bonanza

India’s Karandeep Kochhar made a spectacular 7-under-par 65 run in the third round to claim the solo lead in the Philippine Golf Championship Saturday at the East Course of the Wack Wack Golf and Country Club in Mandaluyong City.

Kochhar recorded the best course score in 25 years, an amazing feat made even more challenging by sustained drizzle until early afternoon in the Asian Tour season-opener, presented by the Philippine Sports Commission and the National Golf Association of the Philippines, and sponsored by BingoPlus.    

Creeping back from four strokes behind the four-man lead pack after the first two days of competition, the 26-year-old Indian bet came out smoking with seven birdies in a bogey-free round for an 8-under-par 208.

Kochhar, who was 1-under heading into the round, erected a two-stroke lead over South African Ian Snyman and erstwhile leaders Australian Tavis Smyth, Thai Sarut Vongchaisit and Korean Wooyoung Cho.

“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 and a stress-free round, I would say,” said Kochhar, whose feat came a stroke shy of tying late Filipino golfer Felix “Cassius” Casas’ 8-under par 64 during the 2001 Philippine Open.

“So that’s really fortunate and I was really lucky obviously. Because with the wind and to shoot 7-under on this course, you have to be a little lucky,” Kochhar added as he received a $10,000 bonus for the best round result.

Teeing off at No. 1, Kochhar slowly chipped away at his deficit from the leaders in the front nine, chasing down Smyth, who was protecting a three-stroke lead after five holes.

Kochhar would then take another birdie in par-4 No. 6 while the Aussie golfer faltered with bogeys in Nos. 6 and 9. Kochhar overtook Smyth by a stroke with back-to-back birdies to start the back nine.

A birdie on par-3 No. 17 doubled his lead going into the final round of the prestigious $5000,000 event.

“I mean, that’s what one can ask for, right? To have a chance to win on Sunday,” Kochhar said.

“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, and we’ll see what happens.”

Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert fell three strokes behind despite a 68 at solo sixth while local bet Keanu Jahns carded a 70 in a three-way tie at seventh, dropping four strokes back.  

Jahns, however, is keeping his hopes high as the lone Filipino with a chance to pull off a miracle in the final round.

“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,” he said.

American Marcus Plunkett and Day 2 co-leader Korean Jeunghun Wang joined Jahns.

Other hometown bets Carl Jano Corpus and Brycen Ko were down seven strokes, Rupert Zaragosa by nine, Fidel Concepcion and Enrique Dimayuga trailed by 11 while Jhonel Ababa was 18 strokes behind the pole.