By Rahul Banerji
Rahil Gangjee climbed into tied second on Moving Day at the Challenge Tour’s Kolkata leg even as Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen opened a four-stroke lead at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club.
Gangjee, who played his early golf in the City of Joy, shot a bogey-free 5 under par 67 on Saturday to gain three places while Neergaard-Petersen went 4 under 68 to consolidate on his overnight lead.
The in-form Gangjee (70-68-67) now has an 11 under 205 against his name alongside Mikael Lindberg of Sweden while the Dane is on 15 under 203 at the head of the pack.
Sharing fifth place on 9 under 207s were Angad Cheema (70-70-67) and day one joint leader Veer Ahlawat (67-70-70), with PGTI regular Jamal Hossain (70-68-69) of Bangladesh part of the six-way tie for the spot.
Last year’s PGTI merit winner Om Prakash Chouhan, who holds a DP World Tour card for the current season was tied for 15th place on 2 under 209 with DLF golfer Sunhit Bishnoi (70-70-69) and two others.
Neergaard-Petersen (68-65-68) is now well placed to push for a maiden Challenge Tour victory with a Saturday round that included five birdies against one dropped shot.
The 24-year-old, who currently sits 31st in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, knows Sunday could be an important milestone in his career, the Challenge Tour said.
“A win wouldn’t only be nice for my season, but it would be my first professional win, so I know how important it is,” he said. “But my plan is just to go out and try to execute as well as I can and we’ll see where I end up.
Good execution
“My game plan has been working really well so far. If and when adversity strikes tomorrow, which undoubtedly it will at some point, it’s just about being able to handle it. I’ll keep plugging away and staying patient.”
The young Dane turned professional less than 12 months ago and has since brought in five top ten finishes, including one on the DP World Tour.
A win would take Neergaard-Petersen to the top of the season-long Rankings, and after two birdies in his final three holes he thinks his patience was rewarded.
“I’m really pleased with how I handled myself today,” he pointed out.
“I got off to somewhat of a slow start, probably only hitting one fairway and one green in regulation from the fifth hole to the tenth, but I managed to play those in even par.
“Then it was nice to get a couple of putts to drop down the stretch. I tried to stay as patient as possible.
“Some of the pins really suck you in to going for them, so my game plan all week has been to hit on the fat side of the green and just trust that I’m going to make some putts from ten to 20 feet, and I was able to do that today.”
Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen was five shots off the lead in shared fourth place with a 6 under 66.
The final round of the Kolkata Challenge will see Neergaard-Petersen teeing off in the final flight alongside Lindberg and Gangjee.
Leading Indian scores
T2: 11 under 205 Rahil Gangjee (70-68-67)
T5: 9 under 207 Angad Cheema (70-70-67), Veer Ahlawat (67-70-70)
T11: 8 under 208 Akshay Sharma (68-73-67), Dhruv Sheoran (69-69-70)
T15: 7 under 209 Om Prakash Chouhan (72-69-68), Sunhit Bishnoi (70-70-69)
T19: 6 under 210 Manu Gandas (72-68-70)
T23: 5 under 211 Yashas Chandra M.S. (71-69-71), Mohammad Sanju (69-70-72)
T30: 4 under 212 Arjun Prasad (69-72-71), Aadil Bedi (70-72-70)
T40: 3 under 213 Rashid Khan (72-70-71), Karan Pratap Singh (69-73-71), Samarth Dwivedi (70-71-72)
Also read: Dane Neergaard-Petersen takes over Kolkata Challenge lead
Discover more from Tee Time Tales
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.