Miñoza falls, slides to 25th in Thailand

MANILA, Philippines - Frankie Miñoza limped home with a two-over 74 on a bogey-double-bogey-double-bogey windup as he slid to 25th place after the penultimate round of the rich Thailand Golf Championship in Chonburi, Thailand yesterday.

Miñoza started with three straight birdies then went up and down in a scrambling round that brought him 10 rungs down from 15th.

The two-time Philippine Open champion collected a total of five birdies against three bogeys and two double-bogeys while Charl Schwartzel submitted a second straight 66 to rally to within four of three-day leader Lee Westwood.

Westwood fired a 73 after a 60 and a 64. He tees off in the final round with a 19-under 197 total as against Schwartzel’s 15-under 201.

Michael Thompson moved down to third from joint second after a 69 for 204.

Guido Van der Valk was at fourth at 66-206, followed by Jyoti Randhawa at 65-208 and Chawalit Plaphol at 65-209.

Randhawa, the former Asian Tour number one, produced one of his best rounds of the year to shoot into the top-10 of the season-ending US$1 million event at the Amata Spring Country Club.

Randhawa fired eight birdies, including five on his back nine to give himself a chance of ending his year on a high note following a relatively quiet season by his lofty standards.

“Seven under, after a long time on the Asian Tour and European Tour, it feels good. Better focused and committed better. I won in India last week and had a bit of confidence coming here,” said Randhawa.

“Good round today, another good round tomorrow will see me through.”

Ranked 43rd coming into the week, Randhawa has found some form towards the closing run of events, stringing together two top-30s in his last two tournaments following a run of missed cuts earlier.