Park Jun-hong stumbles with back-to-back bogeys on holes 13 and 14
Jeong Chan-min, Jang Yu-bin share third place, 5 strokes back
Bae Yong-jun has moved into sole possession of the lead by four strokes at the KPGA Tour Lexus Masters, which carries a purse of 1 billion won ($749,000), putting a third career title within reach.
Bae carded five birdies and two bogeys for a 3-under-par 68 in the third round Saturday at Club72 Country Club's Ocean Course (par 71) in Incheon.
With a 54-hole total of 12-under-par 201, Bae moved from a share of the lead into sole first place, opening a four-stroke gap over second-place Park Jun-hong (8-under-par 205) heading into the final round.
Bae claimed a first KPGA title at the 2022 Honors K·Solago CC Han Jang-sang Invitational and a second at last year's KPGA Classic. Both events were played under a modified Stableford format, so a victory Sunday would give Bae three career wins and a first title in a stroke-play event.
After picking up two strokes on the front nine, Bae extended the gap over Park on the back nine. While Park made back-to-back bogeys on the par-5 13th and par-4 14th holes, Bae birdied the 13th and parred the 14th — gaining three strokes on Park over just those two holes to cement the lead.
Bae closed out the round in style on the par-5 18th, sticking a third shot to within about 1.2 meters of the cup before draining the birdie putt.
Speaking after the round, Bae said the ball-striking was shaky early but the putting touch carried through. "My shots were quite unsteady at the start, but my putting was as good as it gets, which allowed me to keep the momentum going," Bae said. "On the front nine I played aggressively on the par-5 holes, and on the back nine I went for it boldly despite all the hazards — and that paid off."
Bae added that the focus heading into the final round would stay on execution rather than the leaderboard. "Rather than worrying too much about the score, I'll give everything I have to each shot, just as I've been doing," Bae said.
Park Jun-hong finished the day at 1-over-par 72, with two birdies and three bogeys. Park gained a stroke on the front nine but dropped two on the back, surrendering the shared lead to Bae.
Jeong Chan-min, second in the Genesis Points standings, and Jang Yu-bin, third, both sit at 7-under-par 206 in a tie for third place — five strokes behind Bae.
Shin Sang-hun, the Genesis Points leader, struggled to a 5-over-par 76 on Saturday and dropped to a share of 49th place at 2-over-par 215 for the tournament.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
