Korean-American Chan Kim appeared to have benefitted from his recent swing change as he carded a second consecutive bogey-free round to grab the third-round lead at the Asian Tour’s Yeangder Tournament Players Championship in Taiwan yesterday.
Kim matched his second-round score of four-under-par 68 for a three-day total of 10-under-par 206 to stay a stroke ahead of Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant (71) and Taiwanese player Yeh Wei-tze (67) in the US$500,000 event.
The 23-year-old Kim, who won the Tour qualifying school in January, felt his swing change, which he developed with his coach during the off-season, was finally paying off.
“We’ve been working on the timing of my swing and making it simpler. It’s helping a lot, especially down the stretch where you get tired. It’s very easy for you to swing out of sync, but this week, my swing has a good tempo,” Kim said.
“I kind of feel a pause at the top [of the swing] and a lot of people talked about it, but that’s my sensation. I feel like I should stay at the top for a quick second before making my down swing,” he added.
Thaworn, last season’s Order of Merit winner, continued to struggle with his iron play and had two bogeys which offset three birdies at the Linkou International Golf and Country Club near Taipei.
“It is really hard to say what will happen tomorrow [today]. I haven’t been hitting my irons good enough, so I’m just happy to shoot nine-under and stay in contention,” said the 46-year-old, who won the tournament in 2010.
“I’ll have to continue doing what I’ve been doing and rely on my chipping and putting,” he added.
Taiwanese hopeful Yeh holed an eagle on his last hole to add to his three birdies and stayed in contention for his second Asian Tour title.
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