THAILAND’S Jazz Janewattananond will have an outstanding opportunity to claim his first title in three years tomorrow – after he finished in share of the third-round lead at the GS Caltex Maekyung Open today.
The 29-year-old, a seven-time winner on the Asian Tour and the Order of Merit champion in 2019, carded a battling three-under-par 68 here at Namseoul Country Club.
He shares the lead with Baekjun Kim from Korea, who emerged from a tightly packed leaderboard brimming with talent, after firing a 66. Kim won the opening event of the season on the Korean PGA Tour last month.
The leading duo are eight under for tournament – which is considered to be one of Korea’ s majors and is the fifth stop of the year on the Asian Tour.
Canada’s Yonggu Shin (68) and Korean Hyungjoon Lee (71), the second-round leader, are one stroke back in joint third.
Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent – another Asian Tour star looking for his first victory since 2022 – is a shot further back after shooting a 68. He is in solo fifth place and one ahead of Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut, who returned a 69.
Jazz bravely holed a six footer for par on 18 to ensure he starts tomorrow in front.
Said the Thai: “Grinding, I hit it everywhere today. Got up and down from most places, missed out on a couple. But overall, I just feel like everything that I’ve done up to this point, the one thing that kind of keep me alive is scrambling, which is good, that’s what you need here.”
Should he win tomorrow it would also be his second significant victory in the Land of Morning Calming, having claimed the Korea Open in 2019 – the year he won on four occasions.
A couple of brilliant saves were the highlight of his round. He made an incredible yet unconventional four on the par-five fourth. He found trouble left off the tee and had to take a drop; played a recovery back into the fairway; then holed his next shot from 64 yards for a birdie. Later, on the 10th he made another unexpected save. Once again he drove his ball left into trees, chipped his ball back into the fairway and scrambled a par four.
He added: “The fourth hole, oh, my god, yeah. I mean, I pulled it slightly, it wasn’t a bad shot, it just got a bit unlucky, hit the path and jumped into the bush. Had to take an unplayable and then just laid up to a good distance where I know I can get there. I walked up to the ball, did my distance and then I told my caddy this is a good distance, I should have a nice, easy par putt. But then, you know, just a bit luckier than a par putt.”
Vincent, the 2022 International Series Ranking champion who played the LIV Golf League the past two years, could have finished closer to the leaders but three putted the 18th. Like Jazz, his ball finished on the lower front tier of the treacherous green and he left his first putt up the steep slope short. Unlike Jazz though, he missed his par putt from 10 feet.
“Just playing the weekend is a PR for me, so that’s a win,” said Vincent, who missed the cut the one and only time he played here in 2018.
“Today was great, I’m really happy. It was a tough day. I find this golf course really challenging. And yeah, just encouraged by the way that I just stayed patient and then got a few to go towards the middle of the back nine.
“And yeah, the last hole is one of those. It’s one of those holes where you need a great club in, you need to hit it right on the number. You can’t go long, short is better than long, but then you have got to deal with the putt. So, it’s one of those, it’s just golf. I get another crack at it tomorrow and we’ll try to do better.”
Moments earlier he’d played the shot of the day by hitting it close on the long and daunting par-four 16th. He nailed the putt for the only birdie of the day there. It was his third birdie on the trot.
Richard T. Lee was well and truly in the hunt but bogeyed the last two holes. The Canadian, who won on the Korean PGA Tour last weekend, carded a 71 and is eight behind the pacesetters.
