Rashid maintains Chittagong Open lead with solid third round 70

By Rahul Banerji

Rashid Khan maintained a two-shot lead in round three of the City Bank American Express Chittagong Open with a gritty two-under-70 at the Bhatiary Golf & Country Club on Friday

The 28-year-old, halfway leader by two shots, kept his hopes of a 11^th title alive with his second error-free round of the tournament to take his total to 15-under-201 ahead of rookie Kshitij Naveed Kaul (67-66-70), who also returned a 70 to stay on the leader’s tail and stay second at 13-under-203.

Udayan Mane produced the day’s best card of 65 to climb from his overnight tied 16^th to third place at 12-under-204, while Md Sajib Ali was the highest-placed Bangladesh golfer for the third day in a row, tied 10^th at 9-under 207 with a day’s round of 71.

Rashid Khan, who won the last of his 10 titles in December 2018 to break a two-year title-drought, emerged as the prime contender to win in Chittagong after a determined effort of 70 in the penultimate round.

Grinding it out

The Delhi-based Rashid (65-66-70) was not at his best on day three but still managed to grind out a 2-under round without dropping a strokes. He drove the green on the par-4 10^thto pick up his first birdie of the day with a two-putt. Khan then sank a 15-footer for birdie on the 11^th.

Rashid said later, “My short-game wasn’t that good today. I was inside five yards on all four par-5s but I managed to convert on only one of those holes. I also left a few putts short which I generally don’t do.

“However, I stuck to my task and still managed a decent two-under. I made two-putts almost everywhere. Importantly, I’ve dropped just one bogey in the tournament so far and kept the errors out and that adds to my confidence going into the final round.”

Keeping up

Eighteen-year-old rookie Kshitij Naveed Kaul kept pace with Rashid also with a 70. Kaul, the sole leader at the turn on day three, sank five birdies on the first 11 holes before stumbling with a double-bogey on the 12^th and bogeys on the 16^th and 17^th. He finally managed to pull a shot back with a birdie on the 18^th.

Mane’s 65 featured four consecutive birdies and lifted him 13 places on the leaderboard.

Honey Baisoya (71) was a further shot back in fourth place.

Steady Gaurika wins fifth leg of WPG Tour

In Gurgaon, Gaurika Bishnoi held on in the closing stages of the final round of the fifth leg of the Hero Women’s Pro Golf Tour event to become the fifth different winner this season.

Gaurika, who led by four shots after the second round, completed a start-to-finish win at the DLF Golf and Country CLub with a final round of 71 even as Neha Tripathi made a late charge with an impressive 4-under 68 to come within a shot of the winner.

Gaurika had par or better rounds of 72, 70 and 71 to underline her consistency.

While Gaurika and Neha were engaged in battle at the top, Gursimar Badwal (73) was third, Ridhima Dilawari (73) tied fourth with Smriti Mehra (74).

Afshan Fatima (70) finished sixth, Siddhi Kapoor (77) dropped to seventh, Khushi Khanijau (71) was eighth while Jyotsna Singh (71) and Ananya Datar (74) were tied 10^th.

Tight fight

Neha, who started four shots behind Gaurika, turned in one-under 35, the same as the leader. Thereafter, the action heated up though after 12 holes the situated stayed unchanged with both picking up and dropping a shot each.

Neha then went on a charge with three birdies in a row against pars by Gaurika to bring the gap down to one. But another bogey was to prove critical as it gave the leader some breathing space and Neha was unable to get that close again.

The final day produced five under-par rounds as the players went all out.

Gaurika did not have any birdies in the last six holes, but was steady with six straight pars to log her first win of the year following one runner-up and a third place finish.

This week, Diksha Dagar, Amandeep Drall, Vani Kapoor, Tvesa Malik and Astha Madan were playing in Australia and hence missed this event.

Merit leader

Despite not winning at Gurgaon, Neha Tripathi moved to the top of the Hero Order of Merit with Rs.4,51,400. Gursimar Badwal lies second with Rs.3,90,400 and Gaurika Bishnoi moves to third on Rs.3,76,800. Amandeep Drall with Rs.3,44,000) and Afshan Fatima with Rs.2,61,400) complete the top five.

The action now shifts to Jaypee Greens in Greater Noida for the sixth leg of the season.

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