Kartik gets close to Top-10 finish at Asia-Pacific golf

India's Kartik Sharma on Saturday carded a superb five-under 67, his best score of the week, to inch closer to a creditable Top-10 finish at the Asia-Pacific Championships here.

Sharma, who started the day 11 shots behind the leader, took his three-day total to four-under 212 for a Tied-11th place.

Aided by birdies on each of the four Par-5s, the 19-year-old Indian is now just four back.

The other Indians had a disappointing day.

The 2018 runner-up, Rayhan Thomas shot 79, including a triple bogey on Par-5 18th. From T-33, he dropped to T-53.

Harshjeet Singh Sethie (78) at 14-over was T-58 and Girraj Khadka (78) was T-61.

 

Australian Blake Windred (74) had a mid-round collapse with four bogeys in five holes from the eighth hole, where a snap hook started his fall.

He managed to recover with a birdie on 18th, even as playing partner, Ren Yonezawa, who wants to emulate teammate Takumi Kanaya by winning the AAC, dropped a crucial bogey on 18th for a two-shot swing. Both finished at eight-under 208.

Earlier, Yuto Katsuragawa (69) and Yung-Hua Liu (69) played solid rounds to get to eight-under and become clubhouse leaders.

Sharma, who was T-13 at the same event last year, was in great form.

"I hit a lot of fairways. The only two I missed I still managed to birdie them. I found every green and putted well, though I feel I left a shot or two out there," said Sharma.

His sole bogey came on seventh, where he three-putted. "That was disappointing," he added.

For the third straight day, Sharma had a good start but this time he built on it with three birdies in last five holes and finished at 67.

"I was apprehensive when I started because of discomfort due to a recent surgery. Once I settled in with another good start, two birdies in first three holes, things were fine. Unlike other days I also finished well with three birdies in last four," he said.

Thirteen players, including Sharma, are within four shots of the lead to set up an exciting final day.

Ensuring a tight contest on the final day will be the day's best scorer -- Korea's Won Jun Lee (66) and defending champion Takumi Kanaya (68) at seven-under, while China's 2017 AAC champion Lin Yuxin (71) and Jun Min Lee (75) were at six-under.

The winner of the event gets a spot into two Majors, the 2020 Masters and the 2020 Open Championships at Royal St. George's.