Gangjee shoots day's best round, at 10th spot

SEOUL, Sept 23: Rahil Gangjee played the day's best round with a four-under 67 to go up to the 10th place with a total of six-under 207, after three rounds in the $700,000 Kolon Hana Bank Korea Open Golf Championships.
On a difficult day to score, Gangjee had five birdies and a bogey on the ninth. Gangjee, who shot one-under 70 on each of the first two days, played with maturity and cut out risks on the third day when only 15 players came under par at the par-71 Woo Jeong Hills Country Club.
Gangjee is six shots behind the leader and local hero Yang Yong-Eun.Yang, a former Asian Tour player who now plays predominantly in Japan, brought in three-under 68 and opened a three-shot lead over fellow Koreans, Kang Ji-Man (73) and Kang Kyung-nam (72), who were at 10-under 203.
Gangjee began sedately with five pars, before exploding into a birdie spree with three in a row on sixth, seventh and eighth.
That euphoria was dampened by a three-putt bogey on ninth. But he eschewed risks and played well on back nine with good pars and also had two birdies including one on the 18th. He also had a birdie on 14th.
"I am happy with the progress I am making in my game," said Gangjee, the 2004 Volkswagen Masters champion. He was 34th in his rookie year in 2004 and then went through a lean patch in 2005, during which he finished 71st on Money list.
But over the last few months, he has shown good form as admits that his "game has matured". A tied ninth at Aamby Valley Asian Masters was followed by an injury that forced him to withdraw from Macau and skip two events.
He was then tied 15th at Crowne Plaza and was tied third at Brunei Open, his best result since the 2004 win.
Chung Joon (70) and Kwon Myung Ho (69) were tied fourth at nine-under 204. Former US Open champion, Retief Goosen, battled his way to a two-under 69 and at seven-under 207, he was tied sixth with three others, including former Asia No. 1 Thaworn Wiratchant (71). Others tied at sixth were Kim Do-Hoon (69) and Nam Young Woo (71).
Leader Yang, who has four wins on Japan but none in Asia, had five birdies and two bogeys in his 68, while Kang Ji-Man survived a hat-five bogeys on his front nine and made up partially with two birdies in last four holes to stay in touch.
Tied second, Kang Kyung-Nam had an eventful round with six birdies, five bogeys and one double bogey for a 72. Ji-Man had earlier in the month toppled 2005 US Open champion Michael Campbell on way to winning a local Korea tour event Shinhan Donghae Open in the first week of September.
If he wins and finishes ahead of Goosen here, it will be wins over two US Open champion in space of less than a month. The big-hitting American Bubba Watson (75) went four-over and slipped to tied 11th at five-under 208.