TOKYO: Thai teenager Phachara Khongwatmai retained a one-stroke lead at the Asia-Pacific Diamond Cup as he stayed on course for his first Asian Tour victory on Saturday.
The 17-year-old shot one-under-par 69 at Osaka's Ibaraki Country Club for a three-round total of 202.
Japan's Ippei Koike parred the first 17 holes before rolling in his only birdie of the day as he finished the third round in second place.
Despite maintaining his first ever Asian Tour lead for the second day in a row, Phachara said he could have played better after shooting three birdies against two bogeys.
"I am just disappointed with my iron-play. The rest was good, especially my short game," he said, in comments released by the Asian Tour.
"I wasn't thinking much. I just played my own game. I told myself that I am playing against myself, not other players. I was focused on shooting under-par today."
Leading scores (par-70):
202 - Phachara Khongwatmai (THA) 66-67-69
203 - Ippei Koike (JPN) 67-67-69
205 - Song Young-Han (KOR) 72-68-65, Kazuhiro Yamashita (JPN) 69-67-69
206 - Brad Kennedy (AUS) 71-66-69, Daisuke Kataoka (JPN) 68-69-69, Satoshi Kodaira (JPN) 64-72-70, Thitiphun Chuayprakong (THA) 66-69-71
207 - Tetsuji Hiratsuka (JPN) 66-71-70, Park Sang-Hyun (KOR) 68-68-71, Toru Taniguchi (JPN) 70-66-71, Michio Matsumura (JPN) 72-63-72
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