Shamim weathers the wind to shoot day’s best for lead at NGC

By Rahul Banerji

A windy day played havoc with scores at the Delhi-NCR Open on Thursday and it needed all his experience for Delhi’s Shamim Khan to prosper at the Noida Golf Course on Thursday.

The Delhi golfer brought all his experience into play for the day’s best of four-under 68 and a one-shot lead at the Noida Golf Course on eight-under 172 (for 45 completed holes).

There is no doubt the NGC, playing to just under 7,000 yards, has tested the field.

After Moving Day, the top score remains the same as it was on day one, Sudhir Sharma’s eight-under-par 28 from nine completed holes.

It will always remain a guess where the Greater Noida golfer would have reached had he got the full 18 holes but pre-start thunderstorms put paid to that.

Sharma has in fact lost ground since and now shares third place on six-under 174, underlining just how hard it has been to get a score on the tree-lined NGC fairways.

It also puts Shamim’s third round in perspective at the Rs 1 crore event.

Moving up

The experienced Shamim (35-69-68), a winner of 17 titles, gained four places on Thursday, one ahead of Gaurav Pratap Singh, the PGTI said.

NGC golfer Singh (35-68-70) struck a 70 that included one of only three eagles fired in round three, to climb one spot to second on seven-under 173.

Delhi’s Sachin Baisoya (70) and Honey Baisoya (73) shared third place on six-under 174 with Sharma.

Shamim, overnight tied fifth, placed his nine iron approach shots to perfection to earn birdies on the second and fourth holes.

The 44-year-old, a two-time winner at the Noida Golf Course, made further progress with birdies on seven and eight including a 35-foot conversion on the former.

As the wind wreaked havoc on his back nine, Khan, a two-time PGTI Order of Merit topper, dropped his first shot of the day on hole 11.

Shamim then adapted to the situation to play percentage golf as he picked up just one shot on 14 and made pars on all other holes.

Key call

Shamim said, “Club selection was key today as it was the most windy day of the week so far. It was a very satisfying round considering the tough conditions.

“I felt I adjusted really well to the conditions after the wind picked up in the latter half of my round and told myself to look for fairways and greens, not try anything fancy in order to hold on to my advantage.

“I’m quite familiar with the Noida Golf Course having played here quite often in the past. The fact that I’ve tasted success here twice also adds to my confidence going into the last round.”

Gaurav Pratap Singh mixed an eagle, four birdies and four bogeys in round three to jump into contention at a venue where he has won a title previously.

Patna’s Aman Raj aced hole 10 during his round of 73 that placed him tied 13^th on two-under 178.

Also read: Sudhir Sharma maintains lead in Delhi-NCR Open round two