Thangaraja opens dominant lead in round three of Bengaluru Open

Ahead by a shot overnight, Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja made the most of Moving Day to extend his Bengaluru Open third round lead to five strokes at the KGA course on Thursday. Image courtesy PGTI.

By Rahul Banerji

Sri Lanka’s N. Thangaraja made Moving Day of the Rs 1 crore Bengaluru Open at the Karnataka Golf Association course his own to open a solid five-shot lead on Thursday.

Already a two-time winner this season, the seasoned Sri Lankan fired a 5 under par 66 at the event powered by IndianOil to total 16 under 197 after 54 holes, the PGTI said.

Thangaraja (66-65-66) is now a clear favourite to add to his season’s tally and standing on the Order of Merit on Friday.

Hyderabad’s Mohd Azhar (69-66-67), Manu Gandas (70-63-69) of Gurgaon and Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa (65-67-70) shared second place on 11-] under 202.

Khalin Joshi was the best-placed of the Bangalore players in tied eighth place on 8 under 205, matching the day’s low card of 65.

Defending champion Abhinav Lohan(71) was T19th on 5 under 208 while Noida’s Kanav Chauhan (72), the only amateur to make the cut, was tied for 31^st on 1 under 212.

Thangaraja, third on the PGTI Order of Merit with a win and a runner-up finish to his credit in his last three starts, began the day on a solid note with two early birdies.

Minor stumble

He then had a minor setback, three-putting for bogey on the fourth hole but recovered with a further four birdies.

“After a good start, I had a blemish on the fourth hole, but importantly I did not lose focus and came back well thereafter,” Thangaraja said.

“It was my best putting day so far this week. I also hit 15 greens in regulation.

“I’m in a good space at the moment with consistent performances over the last few weeks. 

“I’ll look to continue playing the same way in the fourth round by sticking to the process and not thinking too much about the result.

“The important thing for me is to not get complacent as a result of the big lead and instead focus on each shot.”

Azhar’s 67 lifted him four places from tied sixth overnight while Gandas’ 69 helped him rise one spot from overnight third place.

Also read: N. Thangaraja moves into halfway lead at Bengaluru Open