By Rahul Banerji
Akshay Sharma led the home brigade at the Delhi Challenge on Saturday as a three-way tie at the top promised an interesting finish at the Classic Golf and Country Club on Sunday.
Chandigarh’s Sharma, a third-place finisher at the season-opening Players Championship in Kolkata’s Tollygunge Club, shot a third-round 4 under par 68 to hold a share of 16th place on 11 under 205.
Mysore golfer Yashas Chandra M.S. was next best in tied 20th a stroke behind with a 6 under 66 on Saturday.
The trio of Shamim Khan (69-70-68), Honey Baisoya (71-68-68), Angad Cheema (71-66-70) were tied for 28th on 9 under 207.
At the top, England’s Jack Senior made a hole-in-one late in the day to join UAE’s Joshua Grenville-Wood and overnight topper Martin Couvra of France on a low-scoring third day.
Senior, 35, sank six birdies, a hole-in-one eagle on the pae-3 17th and one bogey on his way to a 7 under 65 to tally 16 under par for the week.
Happy chappie
The 35-year-old, a two-time winner on the Challenge Tour having last tasted victory in 2019, is pleased to be back in contention after a testing few years.
“I’ve been in this situation quite a few times in my career so I’ll be trying to draw on that as much as I can,” Senior said on the Challenge Tour website. “I can only control what I can, so I’ve just got to stay patient.
“I’ve had a tough couple of years to be honest. I made the decision to dedicate myself fully this year and work hard, and the winter work I’ve done has obviously paid off.
“It would be great to win tomorrow but I’m just really glad that I’m fit, healthy and back playing golf.”
Grenville-Wood also made a late charge with three birdies on the front nine before registering an eagle and three birdies over his closing five holes to sign for an 8 under par round of 64.
The English-born Emirati has had success on the parkland Classic GCC layout before, finishing tied fourth in 2022 at a PGTI event, and he was delighted with how he closed out his round in Gurgaon.
“That finish was awesome,” he said. “I didn’t miss a golf shot those last five holes which was nice.
“My iron play was really solid and the birdie on 18 felt good. After making a triple bogey there yesterday, to come and birdie it today was great and a big boost to the confidence.
Familiar track
“It’s a golf course I know well. It’s one I’ve played before, so to come out here, play well and put myself towards the top of the leaderboard is great. I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
Couvra has held the lead since the opening round and birdied the final hole to sign for a 4 under 68 and join Senior and Grenville-Wood at the top with 18 holes to play.
“My attitude was good today despite my game not being quite as good as it has been this week,” the 20-year-old said. “It’s going to be a great fight tomorrow.
“I made two bogeys on 10 and 11, but I know at the end of this course there’s a lot of opportunities. Two birdies in my last four holes puts me in an amazing position to fight for the win.
“In South Africa I played well but didn’t get a victory, so tomorrow I’ll play my best and we’ll see where that puts me at the end of the day.”
Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen fired the low round of the week so far with a faultless 10 under 62 to share fourth place with Frenchman Alexander Levy on 15 under.
Jiří Zuska from Czech Republic, Welshman Oliver Farr and Frenchman Oihan Guillamoundeguy were a shot back in sixth, with England’s John Parry and Chris Paisley, and Ireland’s Conor Purcell in ninth on 13 under par.
Indian placings
T16: 11-under 205 Akshay Sharma (69-69-68)
T20: 10-under 206 Yashas Chandra M.S. (71-69-66)
T28: 9-under 207 Shamim Khan (69-70-68), Honey Baisoya (71-68-68), Angad Cheema (71-66-70)
35th: 8-under 208 Udayan Mane (71-68-69)
T36: 7-under 209 Rahil Gangjee (72-67-70), Sachin Baisoya (69-71-69)
T49: 5-under 211 Rohan Dhole-Patil (71-69-71), Mohd Azhar (72-66-73)
T54: 4-under 212 Samarth Dwivedi (71-69-72), Aadil Bedi 70-69-73)
T57: 3-under 213 Harsh Gangwar (72-68-75)
59th: 2-under 212 Shivendra Singh Sisodia (72-67-75).
Also read: Frenchman Couvra takes slim lead into Delhi Challenge weekend
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