ZIMBABWE’S leading professional golfer Scott Vincent is in a prime position to win his maiden Asian Tour title after signing for a 66 to move within two shots of the lead at the 34th Shinhan Donghae Open in South Korea yesterday.
BY DANIEL NHAKANISO
The 26-year-old made seven birdies, dropping a shot on either side of the turn at the Bear’s Best Cheongna Golf Club, to move into solo third on the leaderboard with a 54-hole total of 12 under-par 201.
Vincent will start the final round two shots behind home favourite Sanghyun Park, who also shot a five-under-par 66 to grab the lead on 14-under-par 199, while his compatriot Byeonghun An is a shot behind in second place.
Vincent has emerged runner-up four times since 2016 when he started playing on the Asian Tour, including a tie for second position at the same event in his debut season on tour in 2016. He will be eager to go one better and finally get the monkey off his back.
He is, however, taking it one step at a time and yesterday he was delighted to get himself in contention.
“Today is very important because it gets you in a good position for the final round. I did that today and that is all that I can ask for,” Vincent said after his round.
“The bogey [at the seventh hole] was soft, so I wasn’t happy about that. I hit a great tee shot at eight, which set up a birdie there and then on nine, I made a 15-footer. I’m happy with how that went.”
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The former St John’s College student, who has been playing some of his best golf recently with his wife Kelsey on the bag, said he was targeting a similar performance today.
“The rough is so long and thick, so I’ve got to hit a lot of fairways. If I do that, I’ll have a good chance for the win. These guys out there are so good. I reckon at least another five-under-par will do it,” he said.
A win today would be just reward for Vincent, who has been enjoying a remarkable season in Asia after posting seven top 10 finishes this season which has lifted him to a career-high position 162 on the Official World Golf Rankings.
