Joint overnight leader Ho Yu-cheng of Chinese Taipei continued to press home the advantage at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur tournament at Damai Indah Golf today, posting a six-under-par 66 to take a two stroke lead into the final round.

Even though he started the day feeling slightly under the weather, he was still able to post a round with eight birdies and open a slight gap on the rest of the field.

“I think my round was pretty good today,” he said after posting his score. “I had a stomach ache yesterday and I didn’t eat anything this morning so I think I played pretty well considering. I’m feeling better now but I need to rest so I can focus on my game tomorrow.”

Thailand’s Jakraphan Premsirigorn remains in contention after a round of 67 at the BSD course. The first round leader at the US$125,000 Asian Development Tour event, he is two shots back in solo second.

Jakraphan Premsirigorn of Thailand pictured in action at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament at Damai Indah Golf, BSD Course. Picture by Yulius Martinus / OB Golf.

In joint third spot are the two young Indian contenders, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (69) who held the joint overnight lead with Ho, and Samarth Dwivedi.

Dwivedi may have missed the cut last week but he has been building momentum at Damai Indah with a 71 in the first round, a 68 yesterday and today, the low round of the tournament so far with a nine-under-par 63.

“I think I’ve hit 14 fairways out of 14 and 18 greens today so it was just a ball striking clinic,” he said after his round. “I’ve been hitting it well even from last week and actually for the last couple of months. I was just struggling to make some putts.

“I was doing a lot of block practice, so I kind of lost a little bit of creativity there. This week I stopped doing any of my putting drills so I was just putting with one ball on the green and trying to visualize it more.

Samarth Dwivedi of India pictured in action at the BNI Ciputra Golfpreneur Tournament at Damai Indah Golf, BSD Course. Picture by Yulius Martinus / OB Golf.

“I ended up holing some putts today. Believe it or not in today’s nine under, I missed three putts from inside five feet.

“You know if you had told me before the first round after missing the cut by one last week that I’d be at 16 under after three days, I’d have happily taken it,” he added.

Dwivedi will play in the final group on Saturday with Ho and Jakraphan, and although he welcomed the opportunity to go one on one with the leaders, he was looking forward to a round with his compatriot Yuvraj.

“I’m looking forward to the last round, but I don’t think it’ll be anything different. I was hoping I’d have a familiar face with me tomorrow with Yuvraj, we’d have some great banter and have fun and hopefully make a few putts.

“The Indians that are representing this week and last week are all multiple winners and they have all accomplished a lot and I feel they’re like at the level where you are not really trying to beat the other person but you are trying to beat the golf course.

“So there is like a great camaraderie between us and we all want each other to play well and we want to push each other,” he added.

England’s William Harrold also posted a low score today, his 64 with nine birdies and just the one dropped shot securing him solo fifth spot on -15.

Thailand’s Witchayapat Sinsrang (66) and Amir Nazrin (69) of Malaysia share sixth spot on -14 while the group in eight spot on -11 includes Thailand’s Tunyapat Sukkoed (67) and Sarun Sirithon (69), James Leow (66) of Singapore, Pakistan’s Ahmad Baig (68), Ervin Chang (69) of Malysaia and Huang Chi (69) of Chinese Taipei.

The final round of the tournament starts on Saturday at 6.30 local time with groups of three teeing off from split tees. The last group is away at 8.09am.