Belfast golfer Gareth Maybin put himself in a great position to claim a maiden European tour success at the Ballantine’s Championship in Korea after a second successive round of 68 left him one shot off Australia’s Marcus Fraser going into the final round at the 54-hole event.
Maybin’s round included his only blemish in 36 holes, with a bogey at the par-five fourth hole, but he also made five birdies to join overnight clubhouse leaders Thongchai Jaidee and Tano Goya on eight under heading into tomorrow’s third and final round.
Maybin, who has missed just one cut this season with two top-10 finishes, started his round with back-to-back birdies before moving into contention with another run of consecutive gains to start his back nine.
“Tee to green I have been pretty solid and when I have missed a green my short game has been pretty good and all in all, I am looking forward to tomorrow,” said the 29-year-old, who posted his best career finish with a second place at the South African Open last year.
“It obviously all depends on the weather again, and hopefully it will be the same for everybody. I have just got to keep doing what I’m doing and if it’s good enough, it’s good enough.
“I’ve been up there before, so I’ll know what to expect. There are a lot of big names at the top of the leaderboard, but I will just stick to my game plan and keep doing what I’m doing.”
Fraser dropped his first shot of the week in a patient two-under-par second-round 70 on a bright but windy third day at Pinx Golf Club to top the leaderboard at nine-under-par.
“I am very happy,” said 31-year-old Fraser, who carded a bogey-free 65 first round.
“I played really well, I just didn’t make a couple of putts through the start of the round, but I made a couple good birdies towards the end and it felt like I played just as well as I did on Thursday, but it was just very tough conditions.
“It was just so gusty. It was windy most of the day but a couple of times it dropped and came back and it was just hard to judge shots coming into the green.”
The main danger may come from Ernie Els, who lies two shots off the lead alongside Australia’s Brett Rumford and home favourite Ted Oh.
“I left a lot of shots out there,” said world number seven Els. “I didn’t particularly putt that well. I had one three putt and a lot of birdie misses. I’m playing nicely, so I’ve got half a chance.”