Kanchanaburi: Chan Shih-chang continued to shoot the lights out in the Royal's Cup yesterday after carding a five-under-par 67 to lead the Asian Tour event on 19 under.
American Kim Si-Hwan was a stroke behind after firing a 66 at Grand Prix Golf Club, while Sadom Kaewkanjana from Thailand was two shots further back following a 67.
Chan finished with a hole-in-one on 16 and an eagle on 18 to open up a two-shot advantage on Friday and he was equally as ruthless yesterday on the front nine going out in four under to lead by four from Kim at the turn.
However, the American rallied with a strong back nine to ensure Chan did not start to run away with the US$400,000 event.
"My front nine was really solid today," said Chan.
"I knew I was leading by four after the turn. Heading into the back nine, I was just thinking to make more birdies so that I can widen the lead. But still leading by one now, not thinking much to be honest. I just want to continue playing like how I did so far and see how it goes in the final round."
The Taiwanese won the Blue Canyon Phuket Championship at the end of last year for his third win on the Asian Tour. He is also a six-time winner on the Asian Development Tour with the last of those coming in 2018 on home soil.
Kim is in search of his first win as a professional and is going about it in the right way having not dropped a shot in the tournament yet.
"I am enjoying playing this course and I'm playing really well but there is still one more day to go," said Kim.
Sadom will no doubt be a threat today having claimed Singapore's National Open last month.
"[On being 16 under] It is pretty good to play this course many under par. It was a pretty strong wind today and the greens are very difficult if you miss them, so I'm very happy with the result. I think today was windier than the first two rounds," said Sadom.