Lipa City, Batangas—Micah Shin unleashed his power early and hit two eagles then checked an impending skid with three closing birdies to rally from joint fourth to the top of the heap with a 65 in the pivotal third round of the Philippine Golf Tour Asia’s Summit Point World 18 Challenge here yesterday.
Shin, whose lean frame defies his power off the tee, gunned down eagles on Nos. 3 and 9 off solid drives and long irons and birdied the three other par-5s, the last on No. 16 that spiked his fiery birdie-birdie-birdie windup that more than made up for his double bogey mishap on the par-4 15th of the Summit Point Golf Club.
That propelled the 21-year-old Korean-American, who scored his maiden win in 2016 in the Philippine Golf Tour’s CAT Open in Tarlac and became the first non-Filipino to win The Country Club Invitational last February, to the top with a 12-under 204, turning a six-stroke deficit to erstwhile leader Dino Villanueva to a two-shot lead over Janne Kaske of Finland and Elmer Salvador in an eventful third round that saw a number of bidders put up low scores in near-perfect conditions to stay in the mix.
“My putting got better and I hope to keep this form tomorrow (today),” said Shin.
But it was his power and iron game that keyed his comeback, coming away with a superb 5-iron second shot from 215 yards to within five feet for his first eagle then knocking down his second from 15 feet on the ninth.
Villanueva, hounded by poor putting, and Peter Stojanovski of Macedonia succumbed to pressure early with 40 and 39, respectively, after nine holes, enabling Salvador to take control with three birdies at the front and hold on to the lead until Shin came through with that explosive finish.
In contrast, Salvador fumbled with a bogey on the 17th and finished with a 70, dropping to joint second at 206 with Kaske, who fired five birdies against two bogeys for a 69 while Taiwanese Wang Tsung-Chieh shot a 67 to wrest solo fourth at 207.
Eight flights ahead, Keanu Jahns mounted his own rally with four straight birdies from No. 3 and bucked a bogey on No. 8 with three birdies at the back, finishing with a 66 and jumping to joint fifth at 208 with Clyde Mondilla (67), Aussie Nathan Park (69) and Stojanovski, who rallied with three birdies at the back to salvage a 72.
Jobim Carlos, this year’s PGT Order of Merit winner, blew a three-under frontside card with three bogeys against two birdies in the last nine holes, ending up with a 70 for ninth at 209 while American John Michael O’Toole charged back with a 68 to join Nilo Salahog (70), Joenard Rates (71), American Jeremy Wendelken (71) and Villanueva, who skied to a 77, at 210.
Save for Villanueva and Stojanovski, majority in the top 20 halfway through the $100,000 event made an early charge to crowd the leaderboard, including recent PGT ICTSI Luisita Invitational winner Mondilla, Park and Carlos.
“I missed three greens in the first four and made three three-putts,” rued Villanueva. “I couldn’t do anything right out there. I was not pressured but simply lost my touch.”
But while Salvador held sway before yielding the lead to Shin, the other pursuers slowed down at the tougher backside although 14 others remained in the chase for the top $17,500 purse in this seventh leg of the second season of the region’s newest circuit organized by Pilipinas Golf Tournaments, Inc.
Still, Shin emerged as the man to beat as the Davao-based shotmaker, who also won an Asian Tour leg last year and placed fifth in his last PGT Asia stint this year at Southwoods, poised himself up for another victory in this seventh leg of the second season of the region’s newest circuit.