Phachara strides ahead at Sabah Masters but rains dampen enthusiasm
Young Thai Phachara Khongwatmai fired three birdies against a bogey in his opening eight holes to extend his lead to three before the penultimate round of the Sabah Masters was halted due to inclement weather on Saturday.
Play was first suspended at 1.58pm local time due to threat of lightning but the torrential downpour never let up at the Sutera Harbour Golf and Country Club, causing officials to abandon play for the day as a resumption looked unlikely after the course received nearly 158mm of rain.
“I got off to a great start today actually. I had two tap-in birdies on the first two holes. I slowed down a bit after that but recovered with another birdie on the seventh to get to 11-under. I told myself to just play my own game and not think too much out there,” said the young gun, looking for his maiden win on the Asian Tour.
“The game is feeling good. I just need to keep doing what I have been doing and not think about the win. It’s unfortunate that the weather did not hold up and we did not manage to finish today. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow but I will do my best,” the man from Hat Yai said.
The third round of the US$300,000 event is set to resume at 7am on Sunday with the fourth and final round scheduled to start at 8.40am with the same groupings as round three. All 69 players who made the halfway cut have yet to complete the third round.
The weather on Sunday, however, will determine if there will be a Monday finish for the first edition of the Sabah Masters.
A decision will be made for the tournament to spill into Monday if the final group, featuring Phachara, Dongha Lee and Sungho Lee, can manage to complete 13 holes of the final round on Sunday.
Should the final group fail to get in 13 holes on Sunday, the fourth round will be cancelled and the tournament results will be based on 54-hole scores.
The Sabah Masters, supported by Tourism Malaysia which aims to boost tourism in Sabah, is the ninth full-field event on the 2019 Asian Tour schedule.
