Que cards 67, but stays 6 adrift

MANILA, Philippines — Angelo Que produced his best game in three days – a four-under 67 that moved  him to joint 13th but still six shots off new leader Mikumu Horikawa in the penultimate round of the Dunlop Phoenix tournament at the Phoenix Country Club in Miyazaki, Japan yesterday.

Que failed to match his day-best 23-putt feat for a scrambling even-par 71 in the second round Friday, finishing with 29 putts. But he finally got his long game going and sustained his impressive iron game that netted him five birdies on a day of torrid scoring at the par-71 layout.

He also turned in another superb short game that salvaged him three pars while keeping his miscues to the minimum, ending up with just one bogey on No. 2, his 34-33 card giving him a 54-hole total of 207 heading to the final 18 holes of the $1.8 million tournament.

A new leader emerged in as many days as Horikawa fired one of the day’s three best scores of 65 to grab the lead at 201, two strokes ahead of Brendan Jones and Shugo Imahira, who shot the two other six-under cards for 203s.

Sang Hyun Park shot a third straight 68 for solo fourth at 204 while erstwhile leader Emiliano Grillo struggled with a 71 after back-to-back 67s and slipped to joint fifth at 205 with Hyun Woo Ryu (68) and Yuki Inamori (70).

World No. 1 Brooks Koepka hit an eagle on the par-5 No. 4 but double bogeyed the next before closing out with two birdies at the back for a 69 and a 206, five strokes behind Horikawa.