By Rahul Banerji
Local lad Karandeep Kochhar raised hopes of a maiden professional title with a bogey-free 5-under-67 in round three of the Tata Steel PGTI Players Championship at Chandigarh Golf Club on Wednesday.
Kochhar thus took his total to 15-under-201 for an imposing four-shot lead ahead of the final round. He led by two shots overnight.
Last week’s winner at Panchkula, Akshay Sharma of Chandigarh carded a 68 to share second place alongside Gurgaon’s Veer Ahlawat (68) and Yashas Chandra (69) of Mysore on 11-under-205.
Kochhar (66-68-67), whose only win on the PGTI came in 2016 while he was still an amateur, made a flying start on Wednesday birdieing the first two holes.
The 21-year-old followed up with two exceptional par saves by recovering from the bunker on the sixth and from the trees on the ninth.
Karandeep, who wasn’t in the best of hitting form on day three, made further inroads on the back nine with three birdie putts from between 12 and 25 feet.
Saving grace
“I wasn’t too comfortable with my hitting today but my chipping and putting saved the day for me,” Kochhar said later.
“It was my fourth bogey-free round since the start of last week’s event. So I’ve consistently kept the errors out and that gives me a lot of confidence going into the final round.
“I enjoy a healthy lead but I definitely need to strike the ball better in the last round so that there is less pressure on my short game.
“The key in the final round would be getting a good start by playing well on the first five to six holes.
“If I’m around two-under on the first six holes, it would give me a big advantage.”
Sharma (69-68-68) gained two places with an eagle, six birdies and four bogeys. He made an eagle-two on the fourth after his incredible eight-iron approach from 158 yards found the hole.
“I posted a low number but made too many bogeys for my liking,” Sharma said after his round.
“I was five-under on the front nine today and expected to continue the momentum on the back-nine.
Disappointing
“But three of my four bogeys came on the back-nine and that was disappointing because I feel the back nine is easier to negotiate.
“Nonetheless, I feel confident from my win last week and that should help me in the final round.”
Ahlawat (66-71-68) also moved up two places from his overnight tied fourth. He struggled with his putting till the sixth hole making a birdie and bogey each.
Thereafter, he holed putts from a range of 10 to 20 feet to pick up four birdies.
Chandra (68-68-69) continued in his overnight tied second place in a round that included five birdies and two bogeys.
He struggled to find the fairways but his short game was on point. His round was highlighted by a 25-foot conversion on the fifth.
Delhi’s Shamim Khan (68) and Arjun Prasad (70) as well as Chandigarh’s Amrit Lal (68) were T5 on 10-under-206.
Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa fired the day’s best 66 to be tied eighth along with Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (70) on 8-under-208.
Khalin Joshi (67) of Bangalore was tied 10th on 7-under-209 while the Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu (69) and Aadil Bedi (73) were in tied 15th place on 5-under-211.
Also read: Kochhar emerges halfway leader with two-shot edge
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