Vincent stays ahead as Typhoon Tapah threatens The 35th Shinhan Donghae Open

Incheon, Korea, September 21: Zimbabwe’s Scott Vincent continued to hold on to his lead after signing for a third round three-under-par 68 as Typhoon Tapah threatens to affect the final round of the 35^th Shinhan Donghae Open.

The centre of the typhoon will be approximately 300km away from the Bear’s Best Cheongna Golf Club on Sunday and in the event the final round cannot be completed, regardless of the number of holes completed, the tournament will be declared as a 54-hole tournament.

Depending on the weather situation on the final round, Vincent stands on the verge of lifting his maiden Asian Tour title, having come so close to winning on several occasions since he made his debut on the Tour.

The Zimbabwean’s three-day total of 11-under-par 202 was enough to give him a two-shot advantage over Korea’s Sung Kang, South Africa’s Jbe Kruger and Japan’s Shugo Imahira who returned with matching 204 total to share second place.

Vincent has never finished outside the top-three in his last three outings at the Bear’s Best Cheongna Golf Club and despite stumbling early with a bogey on the second hole, he demonstrated his resolve by bouncing back with a pair of birdies on the sixth and seventh holes.

He dropped another shot again on the par-four 10^th but recovered quickly again with birdies on 11 and 13 before a closing birdie on 18 allowed him to pull ahead from the chasing pack with a two-shot cushion at The 35^th Shinhan Donghae Open which is being tri-sanctioned by the Asian Tour, Korean PGA and Japan Golf Tour Organisation (JGTO).

Ends.

Did you know?

• Scott Vincent, the only Zimbabwean member on Tour, has never finished outside the top-three in his last three outings at the Shinhan Donghae Open.
• He finished tied-second in 2016, tied-third in 2017 and second last year.
• Vincent claimed his first international win at the Landic Challenge 7 held on the Japan Challenge Tour in June.
• He notched four top-10s in Australia, Japan, Korea and Malaysia to sit in ninth place on the latest Asian Tour Order of Merit. He has not missed a single cut in eight starts so far this season.
• Vincent was crowned the Asian Tour Rookie of the Year in 2016 after ending his season in 28th place on the Order of Merit.
• Jbe Kruger has won once on the Asian Tour in the 2012 Avantha Masters in India, a tournament that was co-sanctioned by the European Tour.
• Hailing from Northern Cape province in South Africa, he has also recorded four career wins on the Sunshine Tour. The latest title coming at the Sun Carnival City Challenge in 2017.
• The 33-year-old got his nickname Jbe from the initials in his full name, James Barry Kruger.
• Sunghoon Kang has previously won one title on the Asian Tour, the 2013 CJ Invitational Hosted by KJ Choi.
• The 32-year-old Korean also has victories in two other events. The Kolon Korean Open the week following his win at CJ Invitational, and most notably the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson on the PGA Tour.
• This year, Kang finished seventh in the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black, his best finish in a Major to date.
• He also had his best career season on the PGA TOUR finishing 45th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Ends.