Taiwanese Ho on road to third title, Daeng two shots back

PETALING JAYA: Golfer Ho Yu-cheng of Taiwan is on track to land his maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) title as he carded a third round 66 to open up a four-shot lead at the PKNS Selangor Masters.

The 25-year-old was in superb form to nail four birdies in a flawless outing at the challenging Seri Selangor Golf Club, which was set up as a par-70 course.

The Taiwanese tops the leaderboard with a 54-hole total of six-under 204 (68, 70, 66), four ahead of Japan’s Naoki Sekito who signed in a solid two-under 68.

Playing in his rookie season on the ADT, Yu-cheng is currently in 10th place on the Order of Merit and a win would secure his Asian Tour card for 2024 as one of the top 10 in the final standings.

Malaysia’s Daeng Abdul Rahman (pic) lies in third spot on even-par 210 after a third round 70. Daeng was satisfied with his consistent play so far with rounds of 71, 69 and 70, putting him in contention for his best finish on ADT.

“I am quite happy with the results, although it could have been better. My putting hasn’t really been on point though and I missed a lot of short putts for birdie today,” said the 23-year-old, who has an extra incentive as the organisers will be awarding the best Malaysian finisher with an additional RM10,000 on top of the tournament prize money.

Third round leader Rory Hie of Indonesia fell back with a round of 77 and is eight shots off the pace while Malaysian No. 1 Gavin Green was among those who missed the half-way cut of six-over after the conclusion of the second round in the morning.

Gavin added a nine-over 79 to his opening 69 to finish the second round at eight-over 148.

A total of 13 Malaysians progressed to the final 36 holes.

204: Ho Yu-cheng (Tpe) 68-70-66; 208: Naoki Sekito (Jpn) 75-65-68; 210: Daeng Abdul Rahman (Mas) 71-69-70; 211: Ervin Chang (Mas) 76-69-66, Varanyu Rattanaphiboonkij (Tha) 66-74-71, Poosit Supupramai (Tha) 65-74-72; 212: Kenneth De Silva (Mas) 69-72-71, Suttinon Panyo (Tha) 73-69-70, Deyen Lawson (Aus) 73-68-71, Rory Hie (Ina) 68-67-77.