Ahmad Baig stays in hunt for Asian Tour card

KARACHI: Pakistan's Ahmad Baig was on course to securing a Tour card after scoring one-under-par 70 in the third round of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School at Lake View Resort and Golf Club, in Hua Hin, Thailand on Friday.

With a 54-hole aggregate of 206 (-7), Ahmad is sharing the 23rd position at the leader-board with six other professionals going into Saturday's fourth and final round. The top 35 players will earn Tour cards this week for the new season – which starts next month at the US$5 million Saudi International.

Ahmad was in a much more solid position at the end of the 16th hole as he was four-under for an aggregate of -10. But he made a bogey and a double bogey in the last two holes. He would need to stay at the top of his game in his bid to becoming the only Pakistani to earn an Asian Tour card this season.

Meanwhile, young Chinese golfer Ye Wocheng maintained his lead in the Final Stage of the Asian Tour’s Qualifying School today, shooting a third-round four-under-par 67 for an impressive 17 under par total.

He leads by three from Korean Cho Mingyu, who carded a belting 62, the joint lowest round of the week so far.

Korean Kim Dongmin (63) and John Lyras from Australia (67) are two shots further back from Cho.

American Davis Love IV, son of 21-time PGA Tour winner Davis Love III, matched Cho’s 62 and is a stroke behind along with England’s Ben Jones (67), Hanmil Jung (68) from Korea, and American Michael Maguire (70).

Yeh, aged 22, led by three at the start of the day and was unchallenged as he collected five birdies before dropping his only shot of the day on 14.

His career seems to be trending in the right direction, he turned professional in 2020, won twice on the China Tour in 2021 and is now superbly positioned to win playing privileges for the 2023 season.

In hot pursuit is the very experienced Cho, a two-time winner in Japan, who finished runner-up twice last year on the Asian Tour in gripping circumstances, on both occasions on home soil.