Golfer Quincy Quek's hopes of becoming the best performing local at the Singapore Open took a knock yesterday, although a birdie on his final hole has offered him a slim chance.
The 28-year-old was three under and joint-15th at the halfway stage of the US$1 million (S$1.44 million) tournament, but tumbled down the leader board to joint-29th, after carding a two-over 73 for a 212 total.
Much of his woes can be attributed to the long 12-hour day, as he completed 35 holes.
He was scheduled for the afternoon session on Friday, but a 21/2-hour rain delay meant that he finished only a solitary hole of his second round before play was postponed.
He said: "It was a very long day (playing) 35 holes. On the bright side, the weather was good today, so that really helped. Otherwise, I would have been more drained.
"I'm quite tired but overall I was just trotting along, it was quite tough to play so many holes in one day. I'm looking forward to resting up for tomorrow."
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Event details
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Round 3 scoreboard
205 Liang Wenchong (Chn)
207 Wang Jeung Hun, Lee Won Joo (Kor), Akio Sadakata (Jpn)
208 Berry Henson, Brett Munson (USA), Choi Jin Ho (Kor)
209 Sam Brazel (Aus)
210 Daisuke Kataoka, Masahiro Kawamura, Yoshinori Fujimoto, Yuta Ikeda, Yusaku Miyazato (Jpn), Lee Soo Min (Kor), Chapchai Nirat (Tha)Thirteen golfers have not completed their weather- disrupted third round. Play will resume at 7.30am today.
Round 4
Scheduled to start at 8.20am. Flights same as Round 3. -
Tickets
Today ($30) through ticketing partner ApacTix. Price does not include entry to Sentosa or booking fees. Free entry for those under five and $5 for kids between five and 12.
Getting there
Shuttle buses run at 15-minute intervals from HarbourFront Bus Interchange from 7am to 5pm.
Singapore No. 1 Mardan Mamat's joint-12th finish at the 2006 edition remains the best performance by a local golfer since the tournament was moved to its current home at the Sentosa Golf Club.
While it will be a tall task for Quek, whose best finish at the Open was a joint-33rd placing in 2007 as an amateur, to surpass Mardan's effort, he refused to rule out a strong showing in today's final round.
Said Quek, whose most noteworthy victory was the 2012 Orchard Golf Championship in the Philippines on the lower-tier Asian Development Tour: "Definitely I want to do my best. I'm hoping to go out tomorrow and shoot a low number, hoping to get some rest and be a little bit more fresh tomorrow."
He will need to improve his ball striking and accuracy though. He found only four of 14 fairways and half of the 18 greens for his third round, both his lowest percentages of the week.
Nevertheless, he said: "It could have been better, but I made a lot of par saves today. I'm satisfied that, over 35 holes, I'm only two over."
He and amateur James Leow, who carded a 75 for a 217 total and is joint-59th, are the only Singaporeans who made the cut.
The Republic is represented by 12 players, including Mardan (joint-82nd) and one-time Asian Tour winner Lam Chih Bing (joint-121st).
