RELATED STORIES Smith & Rominger lead as Ichihara seeks repeat Kennedy and Kumar lead as Thai sensation battles Indian duo on the prowl in Pattaya Jin Park finishes on top at Q-school Erofejeff 64 grabs third round lead Park extends lead at Q-school after second round Jin Park 66 gives first round lead at Q-school 473 sign up for Asian Tour Q-school Final Scores from Emerald GC Final Scores from Pattana GSR Final Scores from Plutaluang GC ASIAN GOLF TODAY TOP STORIES Bae clinches home win Tanihara takes Panasonic title Su Dong's lead cut to two Hole-in-One Jeev shares the lead Korea, Philippines, Italy for World Cup Lu wins record 4th Taiwan Masters Aussie PGA rethinks 'One Asia' GOLF TODAY TOP STORIES Fred Couples to enlist some unusual help Paula Creamer seeking another home town win Jay Haas on brink of another senior money title Justin Leonard looking to break Texas Open record Father & Son event sign up with Sky Sports

Leong blasts into three shot lead at Q-school

Malaysia’s Ben Leong is riding on good form as he blasted a six-under-par 65 at the Asian Tour Qualifying School Final Stage on Friday.

Leong, who finished in the top-10 at the Asian Games in Doha on Monday, continued his momentum at the Pattana Golf and Sports Resort when he grabbed the lead after an 11-under-par 203 total.

“I am feeling tired but I told myself that this is my last competition for the year and I’m going to give it my best,” said Leong, who has the support of his dad N.C Leong on the bag.

“My putting was excellent today but with that in mind, I was also very fortunate at a few holes. I overshot on the sixth, 16th and 18th holes but thankfully the ball went straight into the hole,” he added.

Leong, the winner of the 2003 and 2005 Putra Cup, never looked back after a dropped shot on the fourth hole firing three consecutive birdies on the seventh, eighth and ninth holes. With four more birdies on the back nine, Leong gained a three stroke advantage over Mitchell Brown who shot a 67 in lone second spot.

Tatsuhiko Ichihara, who was the 1996 World Junior champion, was determined to catch up with the leading fray on day three when he fired a lowly 65 in joint third place after a 207. Ichihara had previously enjoyed his first ever win on the Japan Golf Tour last month. Also in tied third was Australia’s Scott Hend who carded a 67 and Swiss talent Martin Rominger who stumbled to a 73.

Australia’s Gavin Flint enjoyed a good day on course which included an eagle at the par five 12th hole as he fired a 67. He was in tied sixth spot five strokes off the pace. American Jin Park, who played on the Nationwide Tour in 2006, was tied with Flint after a 69 alongside Welshman Craig Smith who suffered a disappointing 74.

The players will strive to make it into the top-40 and ties after the fourth round to earn full playing rights for next season.

Third round scores:

1 Ben LEONG Malaysia 70 68 65 203 -11
2 MitchelL BROWN Australia 69 70 67 206 -8
3= Scott HEND Australia 67 73 67 207 -7
3= Martin ROMINGER Switzerland 67 67 73 207 -7
3= Tatsuhiko ICHIHARA Japan 72 70 65 207 -7
6= Gavin FLINT Australia 72 69 67 208 -6
6= Taichiro KIYOTA Japan 68 71 69 208 -6
6= Jin PARK USA 66 73 69 208 -6
6= Edmund BARR Ireland 67 72 69 208 -6
6= Craig SMITH Wales 68 66 74 208 -6
11= HAN Lee USA 71 68 70 209 -5
11= LEE Won-Joon Australia 72 66 71 209 -5
11= Troy KENNEDY Australia 65 72 72 209 -5
14= Ross BAIN Scotland 70 73 67 210 -4
14= Ashley HALL Australia 68 73 69 210 -4
14= Neven BASIC Australia 70 71 69 210 -4
14= David GLEESON Australia 71 71 68 210 -4
14= Corey HARRIS USA 71 67 72 210 -4
14= Ari SAVOLAINEN Finland 69 69 72 210 -4
14= NAM Young-Woo Korea 68 74 68 210 -4
21= Peter FOWLER Australia 71 72 68 211 -3
21= Matthew WOODS England 76 67 68 211 -3
21= Leigh MCKECHNIE Australia 69 74 68 211 -3
21= Stephen SCAHILL New Zealand 67 73 71 211 -3
21= Mark MOULAND Wales 70 70 71 211 -3
26= Roy MOON USA 71 72 69 212 -2
26= Eddie HEINEN USA 67 74 71 212 -2
26= Brad ILES New Zealand 68 72 72 212 -2
26= Shane BAXTER Australia 70 71 71 212 -2
26= Simon DUNN Scotland 68 73 71 212 -2
26= S.Sivachandran Malaysia 71 68 73 212 -2
26= Amardip MALIK India 70 69 73 212 -2
26= Ashok KUMAR India 66 72 74 212 -2
26= Scott TAYLOR USA 74 68 70 212 -2
26= Tony LASCUNA Philippines 70 72 70 212 -2
36= Richard MOIR Australia 77 67 69 213 -1
36= Mikael DETTERBERG Sweden 68 76 69 213 -1
36= Hanafiah JAMIL Malaysia 73 72 68 213 -1
36= CHEN Chung-Cheng Taipei 70 74 69 213 -1
36= Shigemasa HIGAKI Japan 74 69 70 213 -1
36= HSU Mong-Nan Taipei 71 72 70 213 -1
36= Jochen LUPPRIAN Germany 77 66 70 213 -1
36= Darren GRIFF Canada 71 72 70 213 -1
36= Mark BROWN New Zealand 69 71 73 213 -1
36= LIEN Lu-Sen Taiwan 70 70 73 213 -1
36= HWANG Jae-Min Korea 68 72 73 213 -1
36= Ty PUEKDANG Thailand 69 72 72 213 -1
36= Ben St JOHN England 72 70 71 213 -1
36= KIM Hye-Dong Korea 69 70 74 213 -1
36= Gaganjeet BHULLAR India 69 73 71 213 -1
36= Rafael LEE Canada 67 71 75 213 -1
52= Guido VAN DER VALK Holland 72 73 69 214 Par
52= Olle NORDBERG Sweden 73 71 70 214 Par
52= Jason KING Australia 75 69 70 214 Par
52= Jarrod MOSELEY Australia 74 70 70 214 Par
52= Chris KAMIN USA 71 73 70 214 Par
52= Ron WON USA 74 69 71 214 Par
52= CHOI Joon-Woo Korea 71 72 71 214 Par
52= Scott G. JAMIESON Scotland 66 75 73 214 Par
52= Alex OH Korea 72 70 72 214 Par
52= Gerald ROSALES Philippines 71 71 72 214 Par
52= Gustav ADELL Sweden 71 71 72 214 Par
52= Peter KARMIS South Africa 72 70 72 214 Par
52= S. Murthy Malaysia 73 69 72 214 Par
65= James MORRISON England 68 77 70 215 +1
65= Gurbaaz MANN India 72 72 71 215 +1
65= Wittawat SAE-UNG Thailand 76 69 70 215 +1
65= Chan SONG Korea 72 74 69 215 +1
65= LIN Chien-Bing Taipei 72 71 72 215 +1
65= Cookie LAO' Philippines 68 74 73 215 +1
71= CHUNG Sung-Han Korea 75 70 71 216 +2
71= Hironori YOSHIDA Japan 74 71 71 216 +2
71= Sujjan SINGH India 69 76 71 216 +2
71= Vikrant CHOPRA India 73 72 71 216 +2
71= CHANG Hong-Wei Taipei 73 73 70 216 +2
71= Simon GRIFFITHS England 72 74 70 216 +2
71= Piya CHAIYAPONG Thailand 72 69 75 216 +2
71= PARK Se-Woong Korea 71 70 75 216 +2
71= Jim SEKI USA 69 70 77 216 +2
71= Jaakko MAKITALO Finland 73 69 74 216 +2
81= Choengchai PANPUMPO Thailand 72 73 72 217 +3
81= HUR In-Hoi Korea 67 77 73 217 +3
81= Rowan BESTE Australia 70 73 74 217 +3
81= David KWON Korea 74 72 71 217 +3
81= Eiji MIZOGUCHI Japan 71 71 75 217 +3
81= Marlon DIZON Philippines 76 66 75 217 +3
87= Neil PRICE England 74 70 74 218 +4
87= Nathan MAIN Australia 72 72 74 218 +4
87= CHAN Yih-Shin Taipei 68 78 72 218 +4
87= Peter EROFEJEFF Finland 70 73 75 218 +4
91= Carito VILLAROMAN Philippines 70 75 74 219 +5
91= Firoz ALI India 73 72 74 219 +5
91= HONG Chia-Yuh Taipei 72 73 74 219 +5
91= Steven TAN Malaysia 73 72 74 219 +5
95= Rohit CHAUDHARY India 70 75 75 220 +6
95= Chaipat DARAPANICH Thailand 74 72 74 220 +6
95= Chiragh KUMAR India 70 76 74 220 +6
95= HSIEH Tung-Shu Taipei 74 68 78 220 +6
99= M.Sasidaran Malaysia 74 72 75 221 +7
99= Steve PARRY England 71 75 75 221 +7
101 Vivek BHANDARI India 75 71 76 222 +8
102 Tetsuya KOYAMA Japan 75 71 78 224 +10
103 Michael BALL USA 72 74 79 225 +11

December 15, 2006