Kim hikes lead to 4; Hwang zooms away by 11 shots

SILANG, Cavite—Tom Kim slowed down with a 71 but hiked his lead to four over Rupert Zaragosa in men’s play while fellow Korean Hwang Min-jeong all but wrapped up the women’s crown with a 68 in the third round of the 2018 Philippine Amateur Open Championship at Riviera Golf and Country Club’s Couples course here yesterday.

Kim, out to make up for his runner-up finish to absentee Sadom Kaewkanjana of Thailand last year, actually pulled away by six with a three-under card with four holes to go but fumbled with bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17 and settled for a 36-35 for a three-day output of 212.

But that proved enough to pad his overnight three-stroke lead to four as Zaragosa struggled in the early going and needed to rebound with three birdies to get back into the thick of things. But a bogey on the par-3 17th dropped the Filipino bet farther back at 216 heading to the final 18 holes of the annual event sponsored by the MVP Sports Foundation.

Hwang came through with a fiery windup, birdieing Nos. 16 and 17 to fire a four-under card that went with her earlier 67 and 69.

With a whopping 204 aggregate, the young Korean raced away with an 11-stroke lead over Cebu’s Lois Kaye Go, who finally broke par with a 70 (215).