CARMONA, Cavite—Talk about picking up from where he left off and Mardan Mamat is now threatening to blow everyone away in the Resorts World Manila Masters.
After finishing the second round strong to stay in the lead, the Singaporean veteran started hot to fire a six-under-par 66 yesterday to build a four-stroke lead over Thai ace Kiradech Aphibarnrat going into the final 18 holes of the $1-million Asian Tour event at Manila Southwoods here.
Closing with four straight birdies on Friday, Mamat made it eight straight in opening up the third round to finish with total of seven for the day and leave everyone in the field dumbfounded with a 17-under 199 aggregate over a Masters layout that has been at the mercy of the talented field.
Mamat now seemed unstoppable in his bid for a second title in two years in the Philippines. His first came in the 2012 Philippine Open at Wack Wack East which he also pounded in runaway style to snap a long title drought.
“I’ve been struggling with my game for a while that’s why it would mean a lot if I win this tournament,” the well-built Mamat said.
“I think I’ll move to the Philippines if I win here again,” he added in jest.
Aphibarnrat, the Asian Tour Order of Merit champion last year, carded a 68 for 203, with Frenchman Lionel Weber shooting a 64 to trail Mamat by five.
“One more day to go,” Mamat, whose only bogey of the day came on the 13th hole, said. “Hopefully, I can get the job done tomorrow because I have been getting a lot of [fan] support here.”
Berry Henson of the United States, the PH Open champion after Mamat, also fired a 64 to be at 206 like Malaysia’s Nicholas Fung, who shot a 68 even as the Filipino challenge finally fizzled out with Antonio Lascuña and Juvic Pagunsan faltering.
Lascuña , who started the day six shots back, now trailed by 14 after floundering with a 74 like Pagunsan, the country’s No. 1 who couldn’t shake off the cobwebs of a horrendous second round and now stood 15 behind.
Like Henson and Weber, Prom Meesawat of Thailand, who lost in a playoff last year to China’s Liang Wenchong, also made a move by shooting a course-record 63 that was highlighted by a closing eagle 3, as he moved into joint ninth at 208, tied with three others.
“I have been hitting the ball pretty well and putting nicely,” said Prom, who also gunned down seven birdies. “Hopefully, I can get some birdies early [today] to be able to put pressure on him.”
Wang Jeung-hun, the young Korean who started the day with a share of the lead for the first time in his career, didn’t even get to hang on to that for one hole after Mamat broke out of their tie with a 12-foot bird on No. 1.
And Wang did not help his cause any after that signing for a double par 8 on No. 2 before dropping another shot on the par-3 third for a 77 that put him at 210, 11 shots behind and out of the title hunt.
Long-hitting South African Jbe Kruger also assembled a 64 and just missed tying Prom for the course record by flubbing a four-footer for birdie on No. 18. Kruger was eight shots behind in the company of left-hander American Paul Peterson and Taiwanese Hung Chien-yao, who fired 69s.