Two eagles propel Shin to 2-shot lead

LIPA City, Batangas  , Philippines  —  Six strokes off the pace, Micah Shin came away with a rare two-eagle feat at the front to seize control then fought back from a double bogey on No. 15 with three birdies to regain the lead with a 65 in the third round of the Philippine Golf Tour Asia’s Summit Point World 18 Challenge here yesterday.

Save for erstwhile leader Dino Villanueva and pursuer Peter Stojanovski of Macedonia, a slew of players mounted their charge in near-perfect conditions at the Summit Point Golf Club with Shin leading the attack with a brilliant 30 at the front, spiked by eagles on Nos. 3 and 9 and birdies on Nos. 5 and 8.

He stormed past nine players to take charge at 11-under total in a surge that didn’t last long as the Korean-American shotmaker, the first non-Filipino winner in The Country Club Invitational last February, stumbled and dropped two strokes on the par-4 15, enabling Elmer Salvador to re-take the lead he had grabbed from Villanueva early on.

But it also didn’t last long as Salvador bogeyed the 17th in the last group, propelling Shin, who recovered and closed out with three birdies four flights ahead, to the top at 12-under 204, two strokes ahead of the veteran Davaoeño campaigner and Finland’s Janne Kaske.

“My putting got better and I hope to keep this form tomorrow (today),” said Shin, who earlier banked on his sheer power and superb long irons to gun down eagles on No. 3 off a 5-iron second shot from 215 yards to within five feet, and on No. 9 off a 7-iron second shot to within 15 feet.

Salvador settled for a 70 while Kaske fired five birdies against two bogeys for a 69 and 206s with Taiwanese Wang Tsung-Chieh shooting a 67 to wrest solo fourth at 207, setting up a wild final round showdown in the $100,000 event serving as the seventh leg of the second season of the region’s newest circuit put up by ICTSI.

Eight flights ahead, Keanu Jahns mounted his own rally with four straight birdies from No. 3 and bucked a bogey on No. 8 with three birdies at the back, finishing with a 66 and jumping to joint fifth at 208 with Clyde Mondilla (67), Aussie Nathan Park (69) and Stojanovski, who rallied with three birdies at the back to salvage a 72.

Jobim Carlos, this year’s PGT Order of Merit winner, blew a three-under frontside card with three bogeys against two birdies in the last nine holes, ending up with a 70 for ninth at 209.

 American John Michael O’Toole charged back with a 68 to join Nilo Salahog (70), Joenard Rates (71), American Jeremy Wendelken (71) and Villanueva, who skied to a 77, at 210.