Published July 17, 2008 on April 21, 2018

Kim Fends off Gangjee’s Challenge to Lead the Panasonic Open Golf Championship

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Korea’s Hyungsung Kim denied India’s Rahil Gangjee a share of the day’s honours by sinking a birdie at the last hole to snatch the outright lead with his third round four-under-par 67 at the Panasonic Open Golf Championship on Saturday.

Kim’s three-day total of 12-under-par 201 gave him a slender shot lead over Gangjee, who returned with a 68 at the Ibaraki Country Club where the JP¥150,000,000 (approx. US$1,370,000) Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO) co-sanctioned event is being held.

“I enjoyed playing with Rahil and Shingo-san. We made lots of long putts. I enjoyed looking at Shingo-san’s play today. At 45, he is still going very strong. I have not won for long time, so my goal is to win this year. My family is here and I am getting their support. I know this course well and I’m prepared for tomorrow. I just want to keep doing what I have done during my off-season training camp in California. I’ll try my best to keep my swing which has worked very well,” said Hyungsung Kim.

Flamboyant Shingo Katayama of Japan returned with a 70 to take third place while Korean-American Sihwan Kim still stands an outside chance of winning the Panasonic Swing series when he signed for a 68 to share fourth place with overnight leader Rikuya Hoshino of Japan and Korea’s Junggon Hwang.

India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu also remained in contention for his second Asian Tour win after he carded a 68 which took him to a share of seventh place that also included Yuta Ikeda of Japan and Philippines’ Miguel Tabuena.

Kim started the day tied for second alongside Gangjee and four others. He birdied his second hole before mixing a bogey and birdie on holes five and six respectively. After turning in 34, the Korean made his move with a pair of birdies on 12 and 13 before a closing birdie on 18 saw him take pole position on his own.

Gangjee, who has been winless on the Asian Tour since 2004, fired his first salvo with two opening birdies. He dropped a shot on six but recovered well with another pair of birdies on eight and nine.

The 39-year-old Indian then struggled in his back-nine as he was caught off guard by the swirling winds that proved to be a huge challenge.

While aware of the pressures on the final day, Gangjee is hoping he can continue to stay focused and make his long awaited return to the winner’s circle in more than a decade.

“The last six holes were really not up to my expectations but I’ll take this score anything. The winds got up in the back-nine and started swirling on a few holes. That put me in a lot of spots on a few holes. It was definitely a factor. It was fun playing with Shingo as there was a large crowd following us. It’s nice not only to be playing with a superstar over here but to have the crowd cheering you regardless of whether you’re a Japanese or not. I’ll definitely feel a little bit of pressure tomorrow.  It has been a while since I won and I really want to do well. I’ve been putting my head down and practicing more. That has basically made the difference this week,” said Gangjee.

Leading Scores after round 3  

201 – Hyungsung KIM (KOR) 66-68-67.

202 – Rahil GANGJEE (IND) 69-65-68.

204 – Shingo KATAYAMA (JPN) 64-70-70.

205 – Junggon HWANG (KOR) 71-67-67, Sihwan KIM (USA) 70-67-68, Rikuya HOSHINO (JPN) 64-68-73.

206 – Yuta IKEDA (JPN) 73-68-65, Brendan JONES (AUS) 72-67-67, Miguel TABUENA (PHI) 70-68-68, Ajeetesh SANDHU (IND) 69-69-68, Thanyakon KHRONGPHA (THA) 67-69-70, Ben LEONG (MAS) 67-67-72, Sanghyun PARK (KOR) 67-67-72.

207 – Arjun ATWAL (IND) 72-69-66, Daijiro IZUMIDA (JPN) 70-69-68, Shaun NORRIS (RSA) 69-70-68, Kenichi KUBOYA (JPN) 66-72-69, Rattanon WANNASRICHAN (THA) 70-67-70, Masahiro KAWAMURA (JPN) 66-70-71, Jazz JANEWATTANANOND (THA) 68-68-71.

208 – Koki FURUTA (JPN) 70-71-67, Javi COLOMO (ESP) 70-71-67, Pavit TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA) 72-69-67, Kyungnam KANG (KOR) 68-73-67, S.S.P. CHAWRASIA (IND) 69-72-67, Shugo IMAHIRA (JPN) 72-68-68, Scott VINCENT (ZIM) 73-67-68, Mikumu HORIKAWA (JPN) 72-67-69, Jinichiro KOZUMA (JPN) 66-73-69, Toshinori MUTO (JPN) 70-68-70, Brad KENNEDY (AUS) 66-72-70, Kodai ICHIHARA (JPN) 66-71-71, Ryosuke KINOSHITA (JPN) 65-69-74.

209 – Shiv KAPUR (IND) 70-71-68, Juvic PAGUNSAN (PHI) 70-71-68, Konosuke NAKAZATO (JPN) 69-71-69, Koichi KITAMURA (JPN) 68-71-70, Sanghee LEE (KOR) 66-73-70, Yuki INAMORI (JPN) 69-69-71.