Rattanon Wannasrichan and Atiruj Winaicharoenchai led a leaderboard crowded by Thai players after the third round of the US$1million Mercuries Taiwan Masters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rattanon (70) found just four fairways off the tee but still managed to score well and limit the damage to just one bogey at Taiwan Golf & Country Club, while Atiruj (73), leader by two at the start of the round, endured a late double bogey in an otherwise solid outing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Thai duo are at six-under par 210 heading into Sunday\u2019s final round, leading by three shots over three of their compatriots \u2013 Jazz Janewattananond (70), Nitithorn Thippong (70), and Suradit Yongcharoenchai (74).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first non-Thai players on the leaderboard were Pakistan\u2019s Ahmad Baig (71) and veteran Australian Scott Hend (75), who were tied sixth at two-under, while American MJ Maguire (69) and Korea\u2019s Jeunghun Wang (74) were tied eighth one stroke further behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rattanon, winner of the 2017 Thailand Open, needed almost seven years for his second Asian Tour title at last year\u2019s SJM Macao Open, but put himself in a position where he might not have to endure that long a wait for his third. The 30-year-old from Bangkok may not have had a good day with his tee shots, but his highly-rated short game was on song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After making a great start, when he almost holed his tee shot on the 161-yard, par-three second hole, he added two more birdies and a bogey on the 11th hole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was very tough for me, because I hit the driver so badly. I had maybe just four fairways today,\u201d said Rattanon, currently ranked 20th in the Asian Tour Order of Merit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAlso, the greens were a little bit firmer and faster than the first two rounds. It\u2019s very difficult to hit the greens. But my short game was good. I made at least four or five putts for par from about 10 feet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was just trying to keep calm throughout the round and play my own game. And that is what I want to do tomorrow \u2013 not think about what everyone else is doing on the course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Atiruj, who is hoping to win his first title on the Asian Tour, did not have the best start and lost some ground to his chasers on the first hole itself with a bogey. However, he made birdies on two of the four par-fives, before the double on the par-four 16th pushed him back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI did not make any putts today like I did in my opening round. And I was also struggling with my tee shots. I had to make many ups and downs, and most of them were for pars and not for birdies,\u201d said the promising 25-year-old from Bangkok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEven for my two birdies, I had to chip and putt. And then there was the 16th hole, where I missed my tee shot to the right, from where you have no angle to the green. I had a 35-feet putt downhill putt for par, but three-putted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI just kept my focus on the next shot. I was trying to make some birdies because I know on this golf course, you are going to lose some shots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYeah, big day tomorrow, but I am not thinking about my first Asian Tour win at all. If it happens, it\u2019s OK, and if it doesn\u2019t, it\u2019s OK too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The local challenge was led by birthday boy, Wang Wei-hsuan, who shot a two-under 70 and climbed to tied 10th place at even-par. It could have been a lot better finish, but Wang closed with doubles on the 14th and 17th holes after being five-under through 14 holes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI putted really well on the front nine, and everything seemed to be going in. I was able to execute the shots I wanted to hit. However, made a couple of errant drives on the back nine, got too aggressive there, which resulted in double-bogeys and then I three-putted the 17th,\u201d said Wang, who turned 25 on Saturday, a week after finishing tied second in Yeangder TPC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut all\u2019s good. At least I had made enough on the front to lose on the back. The game is still feeling good, so I am excited about tomorrow. I\u2019m actually feeling more relaxed compared to last week.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Scores after round <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n 210 –<\/strong> Rattanon Wannasrichan (THA) 72-68-70, Atiruj Winaicharoenchai (THA) 67-70-73. Rattanon Wannasrichan and Atiruj Winaicharoenchai led a leaderboard crowded by Thai players after the third round of the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-3799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-golf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai.jpg",900,599,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai-300x200.jpg",300,200,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai-768x511.jpg",640,426,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai.jpg",640,426,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai.jpg",900,599,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai.jpg",900,599,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai-825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"International<\/a>","tag_info":"International","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Atiruj_Winaicharoenchai.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3799"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3801,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3799\/revisions\/3801"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
213 –<\/strong> Jazz Janewattananond (THA) 68-75-70, Nitithorn Thippong (THA) 73-70-70, Suradit Yongcharoenchai (THA) 71-68-74.
214 – <\/strong>Ahmad Baig (PAK) 75-68-71, Scott Hend (AUS) 71-68-75.
215 – <\/strong>M.J. Maguire (USA) 74-72-69, Jeunghun Wang (KOR) 72-69-74.
216 – <\/strong>Wang Wei-hsuan (TWN) 76-70-70, Poosit Supupramai (THA) 72-73-71.
217 – <\/strong>Kevin Yuan (AUS) 73-75-69, Liu Yung-hua (TWN) 73-73-71, Hung Chao-hsin (TWN) 72-74-71, Jaco Ahlers (RSA) 75-70-72, Chen Yi-tong (TWN) 72-71-74.
218 – <\/strong>Poom Saksansin (THA) 74-74-70, Christopher Hickman (USA) 76-68-74.
219 – <\/strong>Hung Chien-yao (TWN) 77-72-70, Charng-Tai Sudsom (THA) 74-73-72, Maverick Antcliff (AUS) 76-70-73, Suteepat Prateeptienchai (THA) 73-72-74, Tsai Shang-kai (TWN) 72-73-74.
220 –<\/strong> Jose Toledo (GTM) 75-74-71, Huang Yi-tseng (TWN) 74-73-73, Travis Smyth (AUS) 75-71-74, Liu Yu-jui (TWN) 75-71-74, George Kneiser (USA) 70-75-75.
221 –<\/strong> Jbe Kruger (RSA) 75-74-72, Austen Truslow (USA) 75-73-73, Chonlatit Chuenboonngam (THA) 75-72-74, Bjorn Hellgren (SWE) 74-73-74, Eduard Rousaud (ESP) 75-72-74, Chapchai Nirat (THA) 76-70-75.
222 – <\/strong>Ervin Chang (MAS) 73-76-73, Sarit Suwannarut (THA) 75-73-74, Shunichiro Morioka (JPN) 75-73-74, Ryan Peake (AUS) 77-69-76.
223 –<\/strong> Gunn Charoenkul (THA) 75-74-74, Micah Shin (USA) 76-72-75, Warun Ieamgaew (THA) 73-74-76, Itthipat Buranatanyarat (THA) 71-76-76, Gabriele De Barba (ITA) 72-71-80.
224 –<\/strong> Hsieh Ting-wei (TWN) 72-77-75, Ho Yu-cheng (TWN) 79-70-75, Danthai Boonma (THA) 73-75-76, Yuvraj Sandhu (IND) 74-74-76, Su Ching-hung (TWN) 75-73-76, Ekpharit Wu (THA) 74-73-77.
225 – <\/strong>Takumi Murakami (JPN) 74-74-77, Nick Voke (NZL) 72-72-81.
226 –<\/strong> Justin Quiban (PHI) 77-72-77, Joel Stalter (FRA) 71-78-77, Tsai Tsung-yu (TWN) 72-73-81.
227 –<\/strong> Hsieh Chi-hsien (TWN) 75-73-79.
233 – <\/strong>Jonathan Wijono (INA) 75-74-84.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"