Niall Kearney has a mountain to climb to win his full Asian Tour playing rights as he goes into the final round of Q-School five strokes outside the crucial top 40 and ties.

The Royal Dublin player, winner of the Irish PGA title in 2014 and 2015, was under pressure heading into the third round after a 75 on Thursday relegated him to 97th.

Scores

But he could make almost no ground in the penultimate round, making just one birdie in a two over 73 at Springfield Royal Country Club in Thailand.

The Dubliner is tied for 96th on three over par heading into the final round with Filipino amateur Jobim Carlos a step closer to earning an elusive Asian Tour card for the new season after shooting a third round one-under-par 70 to sit in tied-11th in Hua Hin.

The highly-rated 23-year-old, who just won his second Philippine Amateur title last week, hopes to keep his momentum going heading into the final round.

Young Carlos, who started the round with a seven-shot deficit, marked his card with five birdies against four bogeys to trail co-leaders Chikkarangappa S. of India (72) and American Tom Johnson (71) by four shots with a three-day total of six-under-par 207.

The leading duo holds a one-shot lead over Korea’s Yikeun Chang and overnight leader Kevin McLister, who shared third place on 204 after returning with rounds of 71 and 74 respectively.

Leading third round scores

203 - Tom JOHNSON (USA) 65 67 71, Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 67 64 72

204 - Yikeun CHANG (KOR) 63 70 71, Kevin MCLISTER (USA) 64 66 74

205 - Scott VINCENT (ZIM) 70 68 67, Sebastian HEISELE (GER) 68 67 70, Michael WRIGHT (AUS) 66 67 72

206 - David LUTTERUS (AUS) 71 70 65, Raphael DE SOUSA (SUI) 69 69 68, Wolmer MURILLO (VEN) 68 68 70

207 - Soonsang HONG (KOR) 70 70 67, Dodge KEMMER (USA) 68 71 68, Hamza AMIN (PAK) 72 66 69, Victor OSTERBY (DEN) 70 67 70, Jobim CARLOS (A) (PHI) 69 68 70, Marcus BOTH (AUS) 68 67 72

208 - Janne KASKE (FIN) 71 68 69, Shubhankar SHARMA (IND) 68 69 71

209 - Jay BAYRON (PHI) 70 73 66, Bryce EASTON (RSA) 72 68 69, Greg MOSS (USA) 71 68 70, Jose ROLZ (GTM) 68 71 70, Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE) 68 70 71, Johannes VEERMAN (USA) 70 68 71, Lindsay RENOLDS (CAN) 73 65 71, Seunghyun CHOI (KOR) 72 65 72

216 - Niall KEARNEY (IRL) 68 75 73