The final round of the International Series Philippines is set-up to be a thriller, with three players tied for the lead as 18 holes remain.
Sampson Zheng, Miguel Tabuena and Sarit Suwannarut are the trio at the top, with all three men sat at 17-under, just one clear of Yosuke Asaji and three clear of Kazuki Higa and LIV Golf’s Dean Burmester.
Suwannarut held a four shot lead going into the weekend at Sta Elena Golf Club, but will share the lead going into the final day
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Certainly, at the beginning of play on Saturday, it appeared a close finish may not be on the cards, as Suwannarut’s rounds of 64 and 66 put him four clear on Moving Day.
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However, despite carding a three-under 69 for his third round, Suwannarut, who has two International Series victories to his name, was joined by Zheng, who produced a stunning 10-under-par third round, while Tabuena carded a seven-under 65.
In terms of Zheng, the Chinese player made two birdies and an eagle on his front nine, with the 24-year-old then lighting up Sta Elena Golf Club’s back nine via six birdies in an eight hole stretch to fire a 62.
Speaking about his round, Zheng, whose best finish on the Asian Tour is a tied second at Mandiri Indonesia Open, stated: “I just hit a lot of greens and made a lot of putts. I honestly didn’t feel like I did anything super special, but I just stuck to the game plan. Hit a lot of greens, hit a lot of shots very close, and fortunately made some putts.”
Home-hero Tabuena, meanwhile, made two eagles and three birdies for his seven-under-par third round, as he stated on Saturday: “To be honest, I totally forgot my score out there. I was just cruising and found myself in a real flow state — which is exactly what I wanted to achieve at the start of the day…
“I haven’t played in front of that many people in a long time. It just makes it even more special that it’s happening here at home. Hopefully, I can get the job done tomorrow.”
Both men will be searching for their first International Series victories on the Asian Tour on Sunday.
Tabuena is searching for victory in front of his home fans in the Philippines
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Behind the three-way tie for first is Asaji, who recovered from being one-over-par through seven holes to find eight birdies in his final 11 to move into solo fourth.
Like Zheng, Asaji is yet to win on the circuit and, going into the final round, he is two clear of the experienced Burmester and Higa in fifth.
Higa, a three-time winner on the Asian Tour, will be searching for his third win on the circuit in just two months, having claimed the Shinhan Donghae Open and Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in back-to-back weeks.
Burmester, meanwhile, is the highest ranked LIV Golfer on the leaderboard, with the experienced South African hoping to add a first Asian Tour win to his CV, following victory at LIV Golf Chicago back in August.
International Series Philippines Leaderboard-17 Sampson Zheng-17 Miguel Tabuena-17 Sarit Suwannarut-16 Yosuke Asaji-14 Dean Burmester-14 Kazuki Higa-13 Gaganjeet Bhullar-12 Marc Leishman-11 Rattanon Wannasrichan-11 Maximilian Rottluff -11 Caleb Surratt-11 Soomin Lee
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International Series
