Incheon, Korea: Cho Woo-young posted a third successive sub-par return to maintain his bid to become the first amateur to win the Shinhan Donghae Open.

Thanks to a brilliant bogey-free eight-under-par 64 on Friday, Cho soared to the top of the leaderboard at the half-way stage of the event that is tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Japan and Korean Tours.

Although he was unable to replicate that spectacular performance on the Ocean Course at Club72 on Saturday, a one-under 71 kept Cho firmly in contention.

Going into Sunday’s final round in the event that is celebrating its 39th edition, Cho shares third place with compatriot Ok Tae-hoon and Australian Anthony Quayle on 14-under 202.

That is just one stroke off the pace being jointly set by Korean Koh Gun-taek and Canadian Richard T. Lee.

For 21-year-old Cho, who will make his final appearance as an amateur in this month’s Hangzhou Asian Games, it’s already been a year to remember.

In April he won the Korean PGA Tour’s Golfzone Open in Jeju and last month was part of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation’s winning team in the Ryder Cup-style Bonallack Trophy against the European Golf Association at Spain’s La Manga at the start of August.

He first rose to prominence on the Asian Tour last year at the International Series Korea. He was one off the lead after the third round following a 10-under-par 61 – which proved to be the best round of the week, and eventually tied for seventh.