Bhattacharya eases to three-shot lead at inaugural Kolar Open

Kolar Open round three leader Shaurya Bhattacharya of Delhi in action at the Zion Hills course on Thursday. Image courtesy PGTI.

By Rahul Banerji

Shaurya Bhattacharya shot a tournament low of 6 under par 66 to open a three-shot lead in round three of the inaugural Kolar Open at Zion Hills near Bangalore on Thursday.

The Delhi golfer’s total of 8 under 208 at the event powered by Zion Hills saw him oove up four places on te day, the OGTI said.

A two-time winner on the PGTI including once earlier this year, Bhattacharya had overnight leader Udayan Mane (73-67-71) as his closest challenger heading into the final day.

Honey Baisoya (70) of the DLF Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon and Nepal’s Subash Tamang (72) were tied for third on 3 under 213.

Bhattacharya, 22, who was two shots behind Mane at the start of round three, hit three birdies in the first four holes with some terrific up and downs.

With five top-10s to his name this year, Bhattacharya used his wedges to good effect to add three more birdies early on the back nine. 

Pulling away

Two bogeys on the last five holes were negated by two birdies over the same stretch to help close the round with some daylight between himself and the rest of the field.

“I hit it really well off the tees, my driving was great and I backed that up with good approach shots today,” Bhattacharya said later. 

“Kept it in play and hit a lot of regulations. Importantly, I made a good start on both the front nine and the back nine that kept my momentum going..

“The layout here is quite challenging especially on the back nine. There are some scoring holes but there are also some that can really spoil your scorecard. You have to plan well for those holes.”

Mane had a rollercoaster third round with seven birdies against six bogeys that included four in a row from holes six to nine where he missed the fairways and greens.

Looking to end a four-year-long winless streak, Mane closed the day with two birdies on his last three holes to stay in the hunt.

Also read: Mane holds Kolar Open clubhouse lead on rain-hit second day