Manila: India's Karandeep Kochhar delivered one of the best performances in years on the difficult east course of Wack Wack Golf and Country Club as he shot a seven-under par 65 to grab the lead after the third round of the Asian Tour's Philippine Golf Championship in Mandaluyong City on Saturday. Kochhar is now at eight-under for a three-day total of 208. He received USD10,000 (about PHP585,000) from Wack Wack for submitting the lowest score of the day. According to Philippines News Agency, the 26-year-old had a bogey-free round as he fired seven birdies, which gave him the course's best round in the last 25 years, or since the late Felix 'Cassius' Casas carded an eight-under par 64 during the 2001 Philippine Open. Down by four strokes at one-under entering the third round, Kochhar, amid intermittent rain showers, quickly made his presence felt when he birdied four of the first six holes (1, 3, 4 and 6) of the tournament that offers a total prize purse of USD500,000 (about PHP 29 million) from the Asian Tou r and the National Golf Association of the Philippines. Kochhar, who made birdies on 11, 12 and 17, is now in a position to capture his first championship in the Asian Tour, with the winner taking home USD90,000 (about PHP5.2 million). "Obviously, this golf course is really hard, but I think I played well. Of course, we had a little bit of rain as well today. It was tough to manage rain, the golf course and yourself," Kochar said in a news release. "I stuck to my plan, which was to try and hit as many greens as possible, give myself as many opportunities as I can for birdie, which I did. I was lucky enough to hold some putts and shoot a birdie." Kochhar said his goal is to keep his focus going into the final round of the event presented by the Philippine Sports Commission. "If you asked me this three days ago, I would have taken it. So, I don't want to take this position for granted, obviously," he said. "Same approach. Try and hit as many fairways and greens as possible and put as many putts for birdies as I can and stress-free pars. It'll be easier said than done because obviously there will be pressure in the final round, trying to win my first Asian Tournament. But I'm excited for the challenge and yeah, let's hope for the best." Travis Smyth of Australia, Cho Woo-young of South Korea and Sarut Vongchaisit of Thailand, who were in a four-way tie at five-under entering the third day, are two strokes behind at 210 with Ian Snyman of South Africa. Smyth had the lead at seven-under following birdies on 3 and 4, but he fell back to five-under when he bogeyed on 6 and 9. His birdie on 11 put him back to six-under, eventually tying Cho, Vongchaisit and Snyman. Pavit Tangkamolprasert of Thailand is solo sixth at 211 after a third round 68, while Filipino Keanu Jahns has 212 after a 70, tied for seventh to ninth spots with Jeunghun Wang of South Korea and American Marcus Plunkett. "I stuck to my same game plan today because I was hitting it pretty good. I just didn't make too many putts, so hopefully I leave myself in better positions tomorrow (Sunday) because of the position I was in today," Jahns said.