By PGA TOUR

Mexico City: Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat kept himself in position to notch a career fourth top-five in a World Golf Championships event when he fired a three-under 68 in the third round of the WGC-Mexico Championship to move up one rung to tied-seventh on Saturday.

Kiradech, 29, began the day with an easy birdie at the reachable par-four opening hole at Club de Golf Chapultepec before adding four more birdies on six, 11, 12 and 18 against dropped shots on seven and 16.

His three-day total of eight-under 205 will see Kiradech, the first Thai to hold a PGA TOUR card, start the final round on Sunday eight shots back of runaway leader Dustin Johnson, who now leads by four from Rory McIlroy after a masterclass 66 put him out well in front on 197.

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama, the only Asian to win a WGC event, produced a 67 to move to tied-16 on 209 while Haotong Li of China fought to a level par 71 for tied-30. Korea’s Byeong Hun An shot eight birdies against a lone bogey for the joint best score of the day with a 64 for tied-46 while India’s Shubhankar Sharma carded a 70 for tied-54.

Kiradech’s iron play helped deliver some easy birdies, chipping close on the first hole to three feet to snare his first birdie and then ending his round in style with a wedge approach shot to six feet of the pin in front of appreciative Mexican fans.

“I’m happy with my game. I started well with an easy birdie and I putted okay for my other birdies. The greens are still a bit tricky to read and I did miss some makeable chances but overall, it was a good score,” said Kiradech, who arrived in Mexico on the back of three missed cuts in his last four starts.

The likeable Thai finished tied-fifth here 12 months ago for his career first top-five in a WGC which sparked a superb year that featured two other top-5fives in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play and WGC-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. He’s hoping to keep his foot firmly on the pedal to keep his WGC run going.

“I feel I’m swinging it good and hopefully I can continue tomorrow and play another under par round. It’s nice to start putting in some good scores and I guess it’s due to the work that I’ve put in recently to get my game back up after the year-end break. I’ll keep trying again and see if I can finish as high as I can. Hopefully I can hole a few more putts which will be very nice. It’s been fun coming back to play in Mexico and it’ll be especially good if I can finish well to end the week on a good note,” he said.

Tiger Woods, making his debut in the event, shot a 70 for T9, 10 shots back of Johnson who is chasing a sixth career WGC title.