SINGAPORE – After two rounds outside the top three at the South-east Asian Amateur Golf Team Championships, Singapore’s Ryan Ang finally put the pieces together on July 11 to lead the men’s Putra Cup individual standings.
Beginning the third round five strokes adrift of the Philippines’ second-round leader Enrique Dimayuga (74), Ang recovered with a four-under 68 to lead the tournament at seven-under 209 overall. Dimayuga and Vietnam’s Nguyen Anh Minh (72) are just one shot behind.
Ang, who carded five birdies against one bogey, credited his stellar performance to his short game, which he spends nearly two hours working on every day, about 75 per cent of his training time.
The 24-year-old told The Straits Times: “The hard work that I did with coach Matt Ballard in Brisbane with my putting is finally paying off.
“I just wanted to see someone to go back to the fundamentals and see if there was anything fundamentally wrong and there was. Set-up wise there I had quite a few things that I had to change that still feel uncomfortable over the ball here.”
After dropping a shot on the par-four ninth hole, Ang drained two par putts outside 10 feet on the next two holes before he birdied three of his final five holes.
However, Ang remains focused on the big picture – his team, currently fifth, are eyeing a podium finish after registering the third round’s best team score with a six-under 210, with teammates Ryan Wong and Bruce Kwong contributing a 70 and 72 respectively.
They are on seven-over 655 overall, four shots behind Thailand and Hong Kong who are tied-third. The Philippines lead at 12-under 636, eight strokes ahead of Vietnam.
If Ang can retain his spot at the top of the individual standings, he will receive an exemption into the final stage of the Asian Tour Q-School, a stepping stone towards his goal of playing on the Asian Tour.
Doing so would be a “bonus” for Ang, but he added that the full focus will be on helping the team push for a podium spot.
The Republic’s other national golfers, Brayden Lee, Aloysa Atienza and Chen Xingtong are also ahead in the boys’ Under-16 Lion City Cup, women’s Santi Cup and U-16 girls’ Kartini Cup respectively.
Brayden (73), who is on one-under 215, leads Malaysia’s Joshua Lim (73) by one shot.