Thailand’s Vanchai Luangnitikul held off his playing partners by a single stroke in the third round of the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament today, his six under 66 enough to hold a slender lead going into the final round on 17 under par.

Fellow Thai Ekpharit Wu and Hong Kong’s Matthew Cheung each posted scores of 67 – Cheung with a bogey free card – and will be looking to keep the pressure on when the US$140,000 Asian Development Tour event concludes tomorrow.

With Cheung in solo second at -16, Ekpharit was joined in third place on -15 by Asian Development Tour rookie Liu Yung-hua of Chinese Taipei, whose faultless eight birdie round lifted him into contention at Damai Indah Golf’s BSD course, located in Tangerang on the outskirts of Indonesia’s capital Jakarta.

“It was quite similar to yesterday’s round,” said leader Vanchai when asked about his performance. “ I didn’t play well on the front nine, but made some birdies and an eagle coming in.”

Liu Yang-hua of Chinese Taipei pictured in action at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament. The US$140,000 Asian Development Tour event is being held from August 21-24 at the Damai Indah Golf BSD course in Tangerang, Indonesia. Picture courtesy of Damai Indah Golf.

His eagle on the par five 18th was his second of the tournament, and this time he managed to pull it off despite a conservative approach.

“I hit my five iron for my second shot,” he explained. “I just made sure it could clear the water. I had about 50 or 60 feet left for eagle, and I holed the putt!”

“There’s still a lot of golf to be played,” he continued. “I’m just going to stick to my plan, try to do same same every day.

“It would be nice to win on the ADT. The quality of the players is really strong so you have to play almost perfect golf to win here,” he added.

Four shots back sharing fifth place are the Indian duo of Khalin Joshi (66) and defending champion Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (65) who celebrated his return to the event with a scintillating display on the back nine.

“It was a bit of a slow start today,” said Singh after his round. “I was feeling a little anxious on the putting green but got the round started on the back nine. Definitely the golf course asks for more patience during the first nine holes,” he added.

“My putter got hot from the tenth hole onwards and it was one of the hottest back nines I have ever had on this golf course,” he said. “I’m liking that the putter is on again and the ball striking was on point. Patience just paid off today and I enjoyed it,” he added.

Matthew Cheung of Hong Kong pictured in action at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament. The US$140,000 Asian Development Tour event is being held from August 21-24 at the Damai Indah Golf BSD course in Tangerang, Indonesia. Picture courtesy of Damai Indah Golf.

In seventh place, on -10, Korea’s Minhyeok Yang (68) is joined by the Thai pair of Kammalas Namuangruk (69) and Chanat Sakulpolpaisan (70).

Ervin Chang (66) of Malaysia, winner of the inaugural Kyi Hla Han Future Champions award in 2023, shares 10th spot with Ben Jones (67) of England and the leading Indonesian player, amateur Jonathan Hartono (68).

Joel Stalter (71) of France, Varanyu Rattanphiboonkij (71) of Thailand and James Leow (72) of Singapore all fared poorly on Day Three and slid down the leaderboard, where they were joined in 13th spot by the ascending Thai Tirawat Kaewsribandit (65).

Matt Killen of England moved into a share of 17th place with his round of 68, sharing with Danny China (71) of Malaysia and Kosuke Hamamoto (73) of Thailand.

All players completed the third round without incident and the final round will be held as scheduled tomorrow, with the first players off the tee at 6.41am and the leaders hitting off at 8.20am.

Main picture: Vanchai Luangnitikul of Thailand pictured in action at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament. The US$140,000 Asian Development Tour event is being held from August 21-24 at the Damai Indah Golf BSD course in Tangerang, Indonesia. Picture courtesy of Damai Indah Golf.