Miaoli: Four Thai players are two shots off the pace ahead of today's final round of the Yeangder Heritage in Taiwan.
They are Poom Saksansin, who fired a five-under-par 67 in the third round yesterday, Rattanon Wannasrichan (68), Danthai Boonma (70) and Natipong Srithong (70).
The quartet are joint third on 208 along with Miguel Tabuena of the Philippines (66) and India's Shiv Kapur (67).
South Korea's Chang Yi-Keun took the lead yesterday with a 68 for 206.
The 23-year-old, who won the qualifying school last year, is chasing his first Asian Tour title.
He birdied two of his opening three holes before adding another two birdies to seize the lead on at the National Golf Country Club.
Chang holds a one-shot edge over Malaysian rising star Gavin Green, who was also bogey-free in his round of 66 at the US$300,000 Asian Tour event.
Tabuena fired his career's first albatross with a six-iron on the par-five 13th hole for a 66 for a of share third place.
Poom said: "I hit my irons very good. I kept driving the ball on the fairway and didn't have any bogeys on the card because of the good weather. I injured my back and I stopped playing for quite a while. I needed sometime before I can play good golf again.
"I hurt my back because I practised with driver too much! I rested for about two to three months without playing any golf. I got injured in October. I had to lose weight as well because the doctor said I can avoid getting injured again if I lose weight. Before my injury, I was about 87kgs and now I'm 76kgs. How did I lose weight? I don't eat 'delicious' food and run a lot."
Chang, who was the co-overnight leader, was delighted to hold on to his lead as players continue to breath down his neck after taking advantage of the ideal scoring conditions.
"My goal was to avoid the mistakes because it was playing easier than the last couple of days because the wind wasn't blowing as strong. I was trying to play my ball to the middle of the green and give myself a chance for a two-putt par," he said.
"I was looking at the leaderboard out there and I knew some players would go low. There are four par-five holes that you can reach in two shots. If you can score there, you will already be four-under."
The 23-year-old Green, also hunting for a first Asian Tour title, birdied all the par-fives to stay within striking distance of Chang.
The young Malaysian came close to winning the Hero Indian Open last month before settling for second place, his best result so far on the Asian Tour.