Kanyalak goes four shots clear in Pattaya
Conservative approach the key for Thai as she fires 66 for four-shot lead at Phoenix Gold
>> PATTAYA: Thailand’s Kanyalak Preedasuttijit shot a third-round six-underpar 66 on her home course yesterday to build a four-stroke lead heading into today’s final round of the Ladies European Thailand Championship at the Phoenix Gold Golf and Country Club.
At 12-under-par 204, the diminutive 20-year-old from Chon Buri is four clear of long-hitting Dutch golfer Anne Van Dam, who fired a 70 in scorching conditions for a total of 208.
Sweden’s Lynn Carlsson (72), Chonlada Chayanun of Thailand (68) and 17-year-old South Korean amateur Hyun Se-Lin (69) are a stroke further back in a tie for third on 209.
Appearing in her second Ladies European Tour (LET) event after missing the cut at the Phoenix Golf course 12 months ago, Kanyalak played the front nine at level-par 36 but fired a back-nine 30, including four birdies and an eagle on the par-5 13th hole.
“I was really happy with my back nine and my putter was very good today. Every shot was very good,” she said.
Kanyalak, who turned pro 15 months ago, added that a conservative approach was the key to her success yesterday and if there was a 50-50 risk-reward shot, then she would take the safer option.
She already has two professional titles, a local Thai LPGA and a China LPGA event, but wants to win the LET event for her parents and for Thailand.
Over the past three months, “Bew” has been popping in and out of the country to play in China, yet she has still left time to practice at least once a week on the Phoenix Gold course.
Her all-round display showed an assured air and it will take a real low score to beat her if she can control her last-round nerves.
There are, however, players in the field that are capable of putting the leader under real pressure.
No one is going to pose a bigger threat than the 22-year-old Van Dam, who has averaged a staggering 310 yards off the tee box this week.
The most impressive part of this statistic is that for most of the time she is hitting the ball dead straight, and virtually every hole’s par score is threatened by this talented Dutch player.
If she can control her short game today then any score is possible.
“Hopefully, I can hole some putts tomorrow [today]. I need a big push but we’ll see what happens,” she said.