By Rahul Banerji
LIV Golf star Anirban Lahiri and Shubhankar Sharma were the best-placed Indians after three rounds of the $5 million PIF Saudi International powered by SoftBank Investment Advisers at Jeddah on Saturday.
After a slow start, Lahiri has struck good form at the Royal Greens and Country Club returning scores of 71, 69, and 65 at the par-70 venue for a five-under 205 total.
His five-under Saturday card helped Anirban climb 38 places from a share of 57th overnight up to T19 in a run that included six birdies – three on either side of the turn – against a lone dropped shot.
The consistent Shubhankar for his part held on to his overnight tied 19th place with a one-under 69 to follow previous scores of 67 and 69, picking up four shots against one bogey for the day.
The two Indian stars were well adrift of leader Abraham Ancer of Mexico who has set the pace right from the start at the opening event of the 2023 Asian Tour calendar.
On Saturday, Ancer added a bogey-free 64 to sit on 17 under par 193 after a 63 and 66 on the first two days. The LIV golfer was two shots ahead of the consistent Cameron Young (65-65-65) of the US.
Late slip
Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana (66-66-68) had a late meltdown to fall into a three-way tie for third place on 10 under 200 alongside Matthew Wolff (70-67-63) of the US and Australia’s Lucas Herbert (68-65-67).
After an early bogey, the Thai star reeled off five straight birdies before the turn and added a sixth before a bogey-double bogey sequence over three holes ruined his card somewhat.
Ancer is out to become the first to win at Jeddah from start to finish and reeled off three birdies each on the front and back nines on the day.
He later told the Asian Tour website, “Another very solid round. Happy with no dropped shots. That’s always my goal. On a golf course like this where it’s blowing pretty good, I’m really, really happy.
“My ball striking has definitely been on, and I’ve been rolling it really nice all week. Yeah, extremely happy. Not really focused on what everybody else is doing. Just trying to play the same game I’ve been playing the past three days.”
Shiv Kapur was in a share of 55th place with scores of 67, 71 and 72 while Rashid Khan (70-70-76), the only other Indian to make the cut, was placed 71st.
Also read: Sharma looks for strong start at Hero Dubai Desert Classic
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