By Rahul Banerji
Honey Baisoya, struggling for form for most of the season, looks to have put his woes behind with a stellar run in Srinagar for a four-shot lead in the J&K Open 2021.
In the third round on Friday, the Delhi golfer fired a 6-under par 66 to put a healthy distance between himself and the field at the Royal Springs Golf Course.
A six-time PGTI winner, Baisoya (67-69-66) has played error-free golf for the first three days of the tournament and not dropped a shot in 54 holes.
The 25-year-old aggregates 14-under 202 at the Rs. 40 lakh event with a day to go, the Professional Golf Tour of India said.
Rookie Kartik Sharma (69-72-65), carrying on with a good run of form with top-20 finishes in the last two weeks, produced the day’s best card of 65 to climb 15 places and into a tie for second on 10-under 206.
Panchkula’s Angad Cheema (69-71-66) had a 66 to gain 10 spots and end the day alongside Kartik and Ahmedabad’s Shravan Desai (69-68-69) who struck a 69 on Friday.
Baisoya, whose last win came in 2018, has attributed his consistency this week to his top-class striking with his 2-iron and a new putter.
Good recovery
Honey, the joint leader by one shot on Thursday, had three birdies on the front nine, one of them being a recovery with a 12-foot conversion on the seventh where he found the rough twice.
Baisoya’s approach from 155 yards lipped out on the ninth but still helped got him a birdie.
On the back nine, Baisoya picked up three more shots and also made good par saves on 12 and 18. The par save from 10 feet on 12 set the tone for birdies on 13, 14 and 17.
Nervous start
The 85th placed PGTI Order of Merit golfer, said, “I’ve not played well in a while so I was nervous from the start of this event.
“But I’ve been hitting my 2-iron well and that helped set up a lot of opportunities for me. I made 17 greens in regulation today and 16 each on the first two days.
“My new putter has also helped my scoring. I missed the cut last week because of poor putting so I’m glad that I changed my putter just a day prior to this week’s event.”
Sharma sank six of his seven birdie putts from 10 to 20 feet during his 65. The southpaw will be looking for yet another good finish following his six top-20s this year.
Bogey free
Cheema, like Kartik, was another big gainer on the day with a bogey-free 66. He picked up his first birdie despite going into a fairway bunker on six.
Desai, whose best finish at a PGTI event has been tied 21st earlier this year, mixed five birdies with two bogeys in 69. He chipped in for birdie on nine.
Shravan, looking for a career-best finish, said, “I used to be very harsh on myself if I made an error.
“I’ve recently worked on the mental aspect of my game and have been much calmer on the course this week. This has had a positive impact on me and that has reflected in my scores here in Srinagar.”
Rashid Khan, Khalin Joshi and Mani Ram were T5 on 9-under 207 while Tokyo Olympian Udayan Mane and Veer Ahlawat were a further stroke back in tied eighth.
PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar and Kshitij Naveed Kaul were in a share of 13th on 6-under 210.
Chikkarangappa S., the last winner at Royal Springs Golf Course, was tied 26th on 2-under 214.
Also read: Joshi, Honey Baisoya share halfway lead at Royal Springs
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.