Karandeep Kochhar stole the spotlight on the challenging East Course of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club on Saturday, February 7, delivering one of the tournament’s most electrifying rounds in years.
The 26-year-old from India fired a bogey-free, seven-under par 65 in the third round of the Asian Tour’s Philippine Golf Championship presented by the Philippine Sports Commission, vaulting to the lead with a three-day total of 208.
Kochhar’s performance marked the course’s best round in 25 years, the last being Felix “Cassius” Casas’ eight-under 64 at the 2001 Philippine Open.
Down by four strokes entering the third round, Kochhar wasted no time announcing his charge.
Despite intermittent rain showers, he birdied four of the first six holes—on 1, 3, 4, and 6—and added three more on 11, 12, and 17 to position himself for his first Asian Tour victory, which carries a $90,000 prize.
“I think it’s… obviously this golf course is really hard, but I think I played well. Of course, we had a little bit of rain as well today, it was tough to manage rain, the golf course and yourself,” Kochhar said. “I stuck to my plan, which was to try and hit as many greens as possible, give myself as many opportunities as I can for birdie, which I did. I was lucky enough to hold some putts and shoot a birdie.”
He added, “I think I hit my irons really well. I think that was the key. I hit a lot of greens, so there were a lot of stress-free pars, a stress-free round. So that’s really fortunate. With the wind, to shoot 7-under on this course, you have to be a little lucky. I think all of those things come right. I don’t think I could have played any better today.”
For his stellar round, Kochhar received $10,000 from Wack Wack chairman Benjamin Abalos for the day’s lowest score. But the rising star remains focused on the final round.
“That’s what one can ask for, right? To have a chance to win on Sunday. And if I was at this position, if you asked me this three days ago, I would have taken it. So, I don’t want to take this position for granted, obviously. And I’ll try my best tomorrow and we’ll see what happens,” he said.
He continued, “Same approach. Try and hit as many fairways and greens as possible and put as many putts for birdies as I can and stress-free pars. It’ll be easier said than done because there will obviously be pressure in the final round, trying to win my first Asian Tournament. But I’m excited for the challenge and yeah, let’s hope for the best.”
Trailing Kochhar by two strokes at 210 are Travis Smyth of Australia, Wooyoung Cho of South Korea, Sarut Vongchaisit of Thailand, and Ian Snyman of South Africa.
Smyth briefly held a seven-under lead with birdies on 3 and 4 but fell back after bogeys on 6 and 9, eventually tying for second to fifth alongside Cho, Vongchaisit, and Snyman.
Thailand’s Pavit Tangkamolprasert sits solo sixth at 211 after a third-round 68, while Filipino Keanu Jahns remains in contention at 212, tied for seventh to ninth with South Korea’s Jeunghun Wang and American Marcus Plunkett.
“I stick to my same game plan today because I was hitting it pretty good. I just didn’t make too many putts, so hopefully I leave myself in better positions tomorrow because of the position I was in today,” said Jahns. “Just try to hit the fairway, don’t be too aggressive, get it middle of the green, then hopefully with some good putting, I’ll put in a good score. Just trying to stick to my game plan, not paying attention to what other people are doing, and if I’m able to do that well, I’ll put in a good result.”
Rounding out the leaderboard, Chen Guxin of China, Poosit Supupramai, and Sarit Suwannarut of Thailand are tied for 10th to 12th at 214.
Filipino duo Carl Jano Corpus and Brycen Ko are tied for 13th to 16th with England’s Matt Killen and Chinese Taipei’s Hung Chien Yao at 215.
