Asian Tour qualifying: Karan Taunk in second after 3 rounds

Hua Hin (Thailand): Indian golfer Karan Taunk salvaged his round with two closing birdies and moved to the second spot in the Asian Tour Qualifying School’s First Stage Section A at the Royal Thai Army Sports Center. Taunk, who was lying third after the second round, carded one-over 73 and is now two-under 214 for 54 holes after rounds of 72 and 69 on first two days. But Taunk lies a whopping 14 shots behind runaway leader Simon Griffiths of England, who carded a three-under 69 to get to 16-under 200. [caption id=“attachment_1368975” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational Image. Reuters[/caption] Mitchell Brown (74) is also tied second at two-under. In the other section of the Q-School First stage, Australia’s Matt Jager put himself in prime position to secure a spot in the all-important Qualifying School Final Stage after shooting a four-under-par 68 in the third round. The powerful Australian produced another consistent performance by trading five birdies against one bogey to take the lead on 11-under 205 at the Imperial Lakeview Golf Club. Japan’s Fukumi Yoshinaga shot a 68 for second position on 10-under 206, Andrew Martin of Australia was a further shot back in third after posting a 69 and he is at nine-under 207. After four rounds of the First Stage Section A and Section B, the top 15% players from each venue will qualify for the all-important Final Stage from February 12-15. They will then join players who are already exempted into the Final Stage at the Imperial Lakeview and Springfield Royal where the top-40 finishers and ties will earn their Tour cards for 2014. PTI