Grace Quintanilla birdied three of her final four holes to recover from a shaky start on Thursday, carding a one-under-par 70 to stretch her lead to six shots heading into the final round of the women’s division of the Singapore Amateur Open at the historic Bukit Course of the Singapore Island Country Club.
The Cebuana teenager played her back nine in four-under 32 to finish with a 54-hole total of 208. She rallied after dropping three shots over a five-hole stretch from No. 3, while home bet Amelie Ng fired her best round of the week, a 69, to move into a tie for second with Hong Kong China’s Xizihan Wang at 214.
Another Hong Kong China bet, Hei Tung Leung, who started the day just one shot behind Quintanilla, tumbled out of contention after a disastrous 78. Leung bogeyed eight of her first 12 holes and now trails by nine shots entering the final round.
Quintanilla is now on the verge of one of the biggest victories of her young career after shooting par or better in all three rounds. She opened with a 67 on Tuesday before grinding out a 71 on Wednesday to keep Leung at bay.
Meanwhile, Jet Hernandez fired a four-under 68 to move within three shots of leader Jonty Lunzon in the men’s individual competition. The Filipino also caught Rolando Bregente in a tie for fourth with 18 holes remaining.
A senior at the University of Denver in the United States, Hernandez caught fire with three straight birdies from No. 13 before making his second bogey of the day on the 16th. He bounced back with a birdie on the par-5 18th to build momentum heading into Friday’s final round.
Bregente, who led after an opening-round 64 on Tuesday, posted his third straight sub-par round with a 69. However, a closing par left him unable to keep pace with the leaders.
Lunzon shot a 66 for a 54-hole aggregate of 200, holding a one-shot lead over Hong Kong China’s Markus Lam, who carded a 65.
Australia’s Max Moring, who began the day on top after a brilliant second-round 62, cooled off with a 71. He salvaged his round with birdies on the 15th and 18th holes and will enter the final day in third place, one shot ahead of the determined Filipino duo of Hernandez and Bregente.
