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 Overnight leader Thomas, who flirted with a rare 59 before signing
for an 11-under-par second round of 61, was again among the birdies
on another day of low scores at the Kuala Lumpur Country Club, where
preferred lies have been in use.
The 22-year-old seemed to lose momentum with bogey fives at the 12
and 16th but finished with two birdies in his third round of
five-under-par 67 to sit on 20-under for the $7 million
co-sanctioned Asian Tour event, the third of the new PGA Tour
season.
"Those two birdies were huge," the world number 64 said of his
strong finish.
"I felt like I played really well for some stretches. I had some
holes I didn’t hit it well, but I hit a lot of good putts that
didn’t go in.
"So, it was nice to get that putt to go on 17 and 18, finish on a
good note."
Thomas is looking for his first win on the American circuit, while
Steele has won just once, at the 2011 Texas Open, and blew a great
opportunity two weeks ago when he shot a closing 76 after holding
the third round lead at the Frys.com Open.
"I was pretty comfortable at Frys and then it all started kind of
spinning out of control and I didn’t have a very good final round,"
the 32-year-old Californian said after a bogey free six-under-par 66
on Saturday.
"I learned a lot from it. Feel like I’m in a better place now,
mentally. I’ll be trying to be a little bit more patient and a
little bit more positive, not kind of put so much pressure on
myself."
[to top of second column] |
South Korean-born American Kevin Na has good memories of Malaysia
after winning his first Asian Tour event in the country in 2002 and
the 32-year-old put himself in position to notch another after a
blistering 64 on Saturday.
That nine birdie effort left Na, who has finished second or tied in
the opening two events of the campaign, one back of Thomas and
Steele on 19-under.
Japan's Hideki Matsuyama fired a 68 on Saturday to sit tied fourth
on 17-under alongside American trio James Hahn (64), Brian Harman
(66) and Spencer Levin (68), with former world number one Adam Scott
(66) a further shot back on 16-under.
(Writing by Patrick Johnston in Singapore; editing by Amlan
Chakraborty)
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