Ben still in charge after third round in Sabah

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia’s Ben Leong (pic) continued his consistent form by carding a two-under 70 to retain his lead after the third round of the PGM Sabah Championship.

Ben remains the man to beat with his eight- under 208 total where he leads by two shots over American Sam Gillis, who fired a 67 to take second place at the Sabah Golf and Country Club yesterday.

Japan’s Shinichi Mizuno lies in third place following a 70 at the Asian Development Tour event.

Sweden’s Oskar Arvidsson and American Jeremy Wendelken took a share of fourth place after posting 69 and 73 respectively.

The 32-year-old Malaysian had a slow start, dropping a shot on hole five after missing a short putt to save par.

He shrugged off his frustration and bounced back with birdies on holes nine, 16 and 18 thanks to his solid ball-striking.

“I hit a good shot off the tee on hole five but I just misjudged the wind so it ended up being short of the green, then I missed a three-footer for par. I was pretty frustrated but I kept telling myself to hang in there.

“I gave it a 100% on every shot today. Didn’t matter if it was for birdie or par or bogey. I was narrowing down on my targets and stayed focused over each shot,” said Ben.

The one-time Asian Tour winner has had two top-10 finishes this season, and stays on track to take home his second ADT title since his last win at the PGM Northport Glenmarie Championship in 2017.

“The pressure isn’t there because my target is to build up momentum before I play in Korea ( Asian Tour) in September. Heading into the final round, I’m going to stick to the same thought process and just stay in the moment,” he added.