Bandar Seri Begawan: Tawit Polthai continued his fine form, firing a seven-under-par 63 to strengthen his position atop the leaderboard following the third round of the Brunei Championships yesterday.
The 25-year-old Thai, who entered the penultimate round with a three-shot lead, extended his advantage to four with his three-day total of 18-under-par 192 at the Asian Development Tour event.
Thai star Prom Meesawat, who is playing on a sponsor's invitation, posted a sizzling 62 to share second place with American Austen Truslow (64) while Taiwan's Wang Wei-lun (64) trailed Tawit by six shots in fourth place at the Empire Hotel and Country Club.
Tawit, who traded eight birdies against one bogey, had a hot putter to thank for after navigating around the greens in 22 putts.
"My putting was really good today as I was making a lot of putts from 15-feet. I just stuck to my game plan even though I knew a lot of guys were chasing me from behind," said Tawit.
The Thai relishes the opportunity to play with his idol Prom and will continue to adopt a relaxed approach in the final round as he stays on track for a maiden ADT win.
"I just want to have fun tomorrow. It will be playing in the final group for the first time and I am excited to be playing with Prom tomorrow," added Tawit.
Prom made a fast start on the day with five birdies in his opening nine holes to make the turn in 30.
He notched up birdies on holes 11,12, 14 and 15 before dropping a shot on hole 17 for an inward 32.
"I was hitting it well and was confident with my irons so I was able to give myself a lot of birdie opportunities today," said Prom, a two-time Asian Tour winner.
"This isn't a long course, so with my distance, I had to take risks like that. Tawit will be the man to catch and I am excited for the challenge tomorrow."
