MANILA, Philippines – Mars Pucay failed to survive a rollercoaster round in demanding conditions at the back and crashed out of contention with a 74, falling behind by seven in the third round of the PGM Tiara Championship still paced by American Casey O’Toole at the Tiara Melaka Golf and Country Club in Malacca, Malaysia yesterday.
Pucay, who surprised and led the field with a six-under 66 in the first round of the 72-hole championship but fell behind O’Toole with a 70 Thursday, gunned down four birdies at the back but fumbled with three bogeys and a double-bogey to finish with a pair of 37s.
With a 210 total, the Filipino ace fell to joint seventh with Thai Nirun Sae-ueng, who shot a 68, seven strokes behind O’Toole, who fired a 69 for a 203 and storm to a four-shot lead over fellow US bet Sejun Yoon, who carded a 71 for a 207 in the third to the last leg of this year’s Asian Development Tour.
Bangladeshi Shakhawat Sohel fired the day’s best of seven-under 65 to jump from 13th to a share of third with Finland’s Janne Kaske, who made a 70, at 208.
Pucay, seeking to snap a long title spell in the circuit, appeared headed for a big rebound when he birdied No. 3 but failed to return a six-footer for par on the next then bogeyed the difficult par-4 No. 8 for the third straight day.
He, however, birdied the 10th only to drop another stroke on the par-3 11th then came through with back-to-back birdies only to stumble with a double-bogey six on No. 14 before sandwiching two bogeys with a tap-in birdie on the par-5 No. 15.