Golfer Uthaipas takes lead at Taifong Open

Pannakorn Uthaipas of Thailand continued his red-hot form by carding a second straight five-under-par 67 to stay ahead of the chasing pack following the penultimate round of the US$160,000 Taifong Open here on Saturday.

Chasing a maiden Asian Development Tour (ADT) win, the 26-year-old Pannakorn fired five birdies against two bogeys before pulling off a birdie-eagle finish to lead by two shots with a three-day total of 10-under-par 206 at the Taifong Golf Course.

Asian Tour stalwart Lin Wen-tang kept alive the local hopes as he matched the day's efforts of Pannakorn to move into second place with countryman Hsu Hao-sheng (67), American Blake Snyder (69) and Phanuvich Onchu (67) of Thailand on 208.

Overnight leader Sattaya Supupramai of Thailand returned a 73 and slipped three shots off the pace to the sixth place. He shares the spot with compatriots Gunn Charoenkul (68) and Sorachut Hansapiban (72), as well as Steve Lewton (69) of England.

Local hero Lin, a six-time winner on the premier Asian Tour, took advantage of all the par-fives to stay within touching distance of Pannakorn at the Taifong Open.

Out of the four par-fives, he birdied the first three and eagled the last after chipping in from the rough about six yards away.

--IANS

ajb/bg