India's Rahil Gangjee held on to the lead ahead of a charging Lin Wen-hong in the third round at the US $500,000 Mercuries Taiwan Masters on Saturday.
Gangjee stayed on top of the leaderboard as he was even-par for the day. He achieved a three-day total of eight-under-par 208 and was a stroke ahead of local favourite Wen-hong, who was the biggest mover after a sizzling eight-under-par 64 at the Taiwan Golf and Country Club.
Lin Wen-tang, 32, fired a 67 and was one stroke behind his younger brother Wen-hong in joint third position alongside Korea's Ted Oh who was even-par. After two consecutive 69s, American Bryan Saltus, who is ranked 27th on the Asian Tour's UBS Order of Merit, slipped down the leaderboard to fifth spot when he shot a 73.
"I am happy and now I'm not as nervous going into the final round as before because my form has been steady for a while now," said Gangjee, who finished third at the Brunei Open in August.
Gangjee struggled in the opening stages with two consecutive bogeys in the third and fourth holes. He bounced back with birdies at fifth and sixth holes but dropped another shot at the eighth hole. After a birdie at the 10th hole, Gangjee struck a wayward drive which led to a double bogey at the par four 12th hole.
"The 12th hole was terrible. I knew it was going right and into the trees. The ball was then unplayable as it was stuck between the roots of the trees," said Gangjee, who closed in with a birdie on the 13th hole followed by a final birdie at the par four 18th holes.
"It wasn't a really strong round but I had a good finish on the 18th hole. A solid second shot 68 yards from the pin left the ball close to the cup as I putted for birdie," he added.
The winner of this year's Mercuries Taiwan Masters will book their spot for the HSBC Champions tournament in November.
After a stunning 64, Wen-hong became the second player in the tournament to equal the course record. India's S.S.P Chowrasia, who was disqualified for not signing his scorecard on Friday, fired a similar score for the opening round lead. Chinese Taipei's Yuan Ching-chi set the course record back in 1994.
Wen-hong, 27, enjoyed a good run in front of his home fans as he blasted birdies on the fifth and sixth holes followed by a five footer for eagle at the par five seventh hole. On the back nine, Wen-hong birdied the 14th and finished strongly with three consecutive birdies on the 16th, 17th, and 18th holes.
"This round has just been a confidence booster for me. Everything worked out as I was putting and driving on target," said Wen-hong.
At the seventh hole, Wen-hong struck an accurate drive and his solid iron play was evident as his second shot landed five feet away from the pin for the eagle.
"The eagle was great and I had a massive 40 foot birdie putt at the 17th hole. I am striking the ball well and I hope to go for the top prize in the final round," said Wen-hong.
With three birdies against an equal number of bogeys, Oh is enjoying his best run of form this season.
"I made some changes earlier on in the season and it backfired so I've decided to get back to my old game. I have been playing solid but I hit a couple of bad tee shots today which cost me but overall I'm quite pleased," said Ted.
Defending champion Lu We-chih was in joint 11th spot as he struck a 71.
Leading third round scores
208 - Rahil Gangjee (IND) 66-70-72
209 - Lin Wen-hong (TPE) 72-73-64
210 - Lin Wen-tang (TPE) 72-71-67, Ted Oh (KOR) 70-68-72
211 - Bryan Saltus (USA) 69-69-73
212 - Gaurav Ghei (IND) 71-72-69, Yeh Wei-tze (TPE) 71-70-71, Chung Chun-hsing (TPE) 68-71-73
213 - Simon Nash (AUS) 69-72-72, Jason Knutzon (USA) 67-70-76
214 - Lu Wei-chih (TPE) 71-72-71, Hsieh Chin-sheng (TPE) 71-72-71, Adam Groom (AUS) 73-69-72, Adam Blyth (AUS) 66-75-73
215 - Chris Rodgers (ENG) 74-72-69, Yasin Ali (ENG) 72-73-70, Shiv Kapur (IND) 73-71-71, Amandeep Johl (IND) 72-71-72, Park Jun-won (KOR) 70-72-73, Lu Wen-teh (TPE) 74-68-73, Chang Tse-peng (TPE) 70-72-73
216 - Simon Hurd (ENG) 73-73-70, Rick Gibson (CAN) 71-70-75, Gavin Flint (AUS) 70-70-76