Lee fires 8-under 62 to reach 14 under, tied for first
Leader Bae Yong-jun slips to tied third after even-par round
Lee Dae-han fired an 8-under-par 62 in the third round of the Amazing Cree Open — a newly established KPGA Tour event with a purse of 700 million won ($523,000) — to vault into a share of the lead.
Playing at Flamingo Country Club (par 70) in Dangjin, South Chungcheong Province, on Saturday, Lee carded eight birdies against no bogeys.
His three-round total of 14 under par, 196, lifted him from a tie for fifth on Friday into a share of the lead alongside Brandon Kewalamanee of the United States.
Lee picked up three birdies on the front nine before going on a tear on the back nine, shaving five strokes off his score. He stuck his approach to within 1.9 meters on the par-4 11th for a birdie, then drained an 11.15-meter birdie putt on the par-3 13th. He followed with back-to-back birdies on the par-4 15th and par-4 16th, then closed out his bogey-free round with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
Lee made his KPGA Tour debut in 2010 and claimed his first career victory at the 2024 KPGA Tour Championship. Having failed to crack the top 10 this season, he now has a chance to win for the second time in his career.
"My putting was so good today that I was able to climb all the way to the top," Lee said after his round. "Every time a chance came on the back nine, I converted almost all of them, and I also made some long par putts when I needed to." He added that he had switched this week to the same driver model he used when he won the 2024 KPGA Tour Championship. "It feels more stable," he said. "I'll play my game with confidence all the way to the end."
Kewalamanee also posted a bogey-free round, making six birdies for a 6-under 64 that left him at 14 under, 196, level with Lee. "The pin positions were trickier today, so I played the course carefully," he said. "On holes where it was hard to attack the flag directly, I chose to aim for the center of the green."
Bae Yong-jun, who had held a four-stroke solo lead through 36 holes, managed five birdies on Saturday but gave back strokes with three bogeys and a double bogey, finishing at even-par 70. His three-round total of 12 under, 198, dropped him into a tie for third alongside Jeon Ga-ram.
Ahn Ji-min was fifth at 11 under, 199, while Jeon Sung-hyun, Park Eun-shin and Kim Yong-tae shared sixth at 10 under, 200.
Park Jeong-hun moved into a tie for ninth at 9 under, 201, after carding a 3-under 67 that included a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th. "I hit a controlled shot from 148 meters, taking the headwind into account," Park said. "The sun was so bright I didn't realize the ball had gone in — the people around me told me. It's my first hole-in-one on a course."
yjc@heraldcorp.com
