Micah Shin loses grip on lead with 72

MANILA, Philippines — Angelo Que failed to recover from a frontside slip and groped for a 73, dropping to joint 45th even as Micah Shin wavered with a 72 and dropped to joint second in the third round of the Asia Pacific Diamond Cup Golf 2019 at the Sobu Country Club in Chiba, Japan yesterday.

Yosuke Asaji fired a 68 for a 209 to grab a one-stroke lead over Denzel Ieremia, who also rallied with a 66 to catch Shin at 210 heading to the final 18 holes of the rich tournament co-sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan PGA.

Que stood far behind at 219, his stint marred by a double-bogey mishap on the first hole. He dropped two more strokes on Nos. 5 and 7 before birdying Nos. 9 and 14 for a 38-35 card at the par-71 layout.

Shin, winner of The Country Club Invitational last year who wrested the halfway lead with a solid 67 Friday, kept the lead with a one-under card after 14 holes. But the Davao-based shotmaker and a regular campaigner on the Philippine Golf Tour and PGT Asia, double bogeyed the par-3 16th and yielded the lead to a charging Asaji.

The Japanese ace birdied two of the first nine holes then bucked a three-bogey game at the back with four birdies to snatch the lead.