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Byeong Hun An endured a grueling day of moving to join fellow South Korean Tom Kim at the top of the Genesis Championship.
The home favorite had hit the most holes in the first two rounds and looked ready to break away from the chasing pack when he grabbed a shot on the first hole on a glorious Saturday at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea.
However, the world number 36 only scored two more shots in his one-under 71 game alongside two bogeys and was now 12 under par alongside Kim.
The pair are one shot clear of France’s Antoine Rozner, who scored the clubhouse first target with a seven-under 65, as well as Portugal’s Ricardo Gouveia and Italy’s Francesco Laporta in Incheon.
“I had a little trouble today,” An said. “The last two laps were almost perfect. I didn’t have a lot of birdie chances out there, and when I did, I missed them just a little bit.”
“It was one of those days. It’s golf. It’s been great the last few days, it’s happening and hopefully tomorrow will be better.”
“I don’t think it can get any better. I said at the start of the week that I would like to play with Tom in the final group on Sunday and hopefully one of us can come out winners.”
After a brilliant approach to the first green, An got off to a quick start and rolled in an opening birdie to extend his lead to three shots.
After six straight pars, An went over the back of the par-3 eighth to make his first bogey, cutting his lead to one.
A hat-trick of birdies from the 14th saw Rozner end up in a jam behind An, with the Frenchman sitting alongside Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, who was in the clubhouse, Gouveia, Laporta and Kim at ten under.
However, Rozner took advantage of the par-5 at the end and when he rolled in his eighth birdie of the day from 6 feet, An was ahead at 11.
Kim managed just one birdie on his front nine, but managed two more on the tenth and twelfth.
After a poor tee shot, he decided to take his medicine on the 14th and it proved crucial as he made the massive 59-foot putt for birdie that increased the leading group to three.
However, An hit back with a long birdie putt of his own on the same hole to move ahead at 12 under.
Kim fell behind after a double bogey on the 15th, but delivered a stunning shot from the rough on the following shot to regain the shot.
An blinked when he returned to the lead at 11 under with a three-putt alongside Rozner on the 16th, but compatriot Kim thrilled the home fans with one of the day’s shots at the end to make his move.
The world number 25 was rewarded for his risky move with a landing within four feet and when he holed the eagle putt he was the all-time leader.
He narrowly missed a birdie putt on the 17th, but almost made the final putt himself when his chip came up just short, which he tapped to ensure a Korean duo was on top.
“It felt great. Just finishing it the way I did after that bad break on the 15th makes dinner that much better,” Kim said.
“Obviously I made a few mistakes this week, but these little things come together to back up those mistakes.”
“What happened on the 15th, you can’t control it, you know, a bad swing. You’re really unlucky, hit the cart path and it’s out of bounds. I had no idea!”
“As I walked up to the next tee, I told myself I was going to make sure to watch a few holes before I teeed off.”
Rozner shot eight birdies and one bogey to catapult himself into contention, while Laporta had a rollercoaster ride with seven wins, three misses and a double bogey.
Gouveia, who started the week in 154th place, moved up to a provisional 107th place in the Race to Dubai rankings in partnership with Rolex after scoring three-under 69 to boost his chances of retaining his playing rights for to increase next season.
The Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, the Japanese Rikuya Hoshino and the Spaniard Alejandro Del Rey are ten under.
South Africa’s Brandon Stone, New Zealand’s Daniel Hillier and first round leader Ivan Cantero are one shot further back.
