Sungai Buloh, Selangor, Malaysia, February 1 - Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden signaled his arrival to Asia by shooting a three-under-par 69 to share the third round lead with Zaw Moe of Myanmar and Japanese Mitsuhiko Hashizume at the PGM CCM Rahman Putra Masters on Friday.
The Swedish newcomer produced a flawless round to tie with veteran Moe and co-overnight leader Hashizume, who both shot a 67 and 72 respectively in the RM200,000 (approximately US$65,000) Asian Development Tour event.
The trio, leading on eight-under-par 208, were a shot ahead of Singapore’s highly rated Quincy Quek (70) and local hope R. Nachimuthu (72), the 2011 PGM Tour number one, in the first ADT event to be afforded with Official World Golf Ranking points this season.
After missing the grade at the Asian Tour Qualifying School last week, Kokocinski is determined to make amends as he aims for his first professional win after joining the play-for-pay ranks four months ago.
“This is my first time playing in Asia and I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been putting pretty good and that was my main focus. I kept calm and didn’t make any bogeys. It was a good round,” said the Swede.
The 21-year-old might be a newcomer in Asia but he swiftly acclimatized with the humidity and was rewarded with three birdies on holes five, 10 and 11 at the Rahman Putra Golf Club.
“I think Asia is a nice place to play in. The people are nice the weather is really good because it is freezing back home now! The ADT has world ranking points and that’s an extra benefit for players who do well,” said Kokocinski.
Myanmar’s Moe got off to a flying start, shooting four-under at the turn and added two more birdies against one bogey in his homeward nine to charge up the leaderboard.
The 45-year-old, who is playing on a sponsor’s invitation, made a slight change in his swing during the Asian Tour’s off season and the tinkering paid dividends.
“I hit it quite close and made some putts. I made some changes to my swing with my coach and it looks good on videos but I’m not that comfortable on the course yet. Hopefully I can keep the momentum going and stay at the top,” said Moe.
Joint overnight leader Iain Steel of Malaysia slipped back to tied sixth place after posting a 74.
Indonesian hopefuls Rory Hie and George Gandranata both had an even par round of 72. Rory is now in tie for ninth just four shots from the lead, while George gained a few spots and is now a further 5 shots back in a share of 31th place.
Leading third round scores (Par 72):
208 - Zaw MOE (MYN) 72-69-67, Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE) 71-68-69, Mitsuhiko HASHIZUME (JPN) 69-67-72
209 - Quincy QUEK (SIN) 71-68-70, R. Nachimuthu (MAS) 67-70-72
210 - James BYRNE (SCO) 71-71-68, Iain STEEL (MAS) 68-68-74
211 - Nick REDFERN (ENG) 68-74-69
212 - Edward REYES (PHI) 69-74-69, Masaru TAKAHASHI (JPN) 73-68-71, Mardan MAMAT (SIN) 67-74-71, Rory HIE (INA) 71-69-72, Carl SANTOS-OCAMPO (PHI) 74-66-72, LAM Chih Bing (SIN) 69-70-73
Selected:
217 - George GANDRANATA (INA) 71-74-72
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