The consistent Yashas Chandra M.S. of Mysore led the Tata Steel Tour Championship by a stroke in after the third round in Jamshedpur. Image courtesy PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Yashas Chandra M.S. took over the lead at the Tata Steel Tour Championship with a flawless 5 under par 66 in round three of the Rs 3 crore event in Jamshedpur on Saturday.
Mysore’s Chandra (69-64-66), fifth overnight and four shots off the lead, climbed four places on Saturday to 14-under 199 and is a round away from ending his wait for a maiden tour win.
Two-time event winner Udayan Mane (67-65-68) signed for a steady 68 to move up two places to second on 13 under 200, the PGTI said.
Greater Noida’s Sudhir Sharma (67) and Sri Lankan N. Thangaraja (70) shared third place on 12 under 201.
The first three rounds of the richest event on the PGTI saw one half of the field play nine holes at Golmuri and the next nine at Beldih and vice-versa.
The format will also be followed for the fourth and final round of the season with par for the round being 71. The leading groups will start at Golmuri and finish at Beldih.
Chandra, eighth on the PGTI’s merit list with seven top-10s to his credit this season, came up with a solid effort as he hit 16 greens in regulation on Saturday.
Early gains
The 29-year-old was on fire on the front nine where he sank four birdies, two from between 15 and 20 feet and two on the par-5s.
After the turn, Chandra picked up another stroke on the par-5 12th. While the putts did not fall for him on the back nine, he made sure not to concede any shots by making pars all the way till the end.
“I’m delighted with the way I struck the ball today. I also hit it close on both courses,” Chandra said later.
“The only disappointment was missing a few putts in Beldih. I felt today my tee shots were better than the previous two days and that made a huge difference.
“The biggest challenge here in Jamshedpur is getting the speed right on the greens on both courses. That’s the reason we have to practice some putts here in Beldih before resuming our round after arriving from Golmuri.
“This being a low scoring track, I know that I will have to be aggressive in the final round. There will be plenty of low numbers tomorrow so I’m aware that I also need to shoot a low score in order to be in contention.”
Steady progress
Like Chandra, Mane made steady progress in round three.
The Pune-based golfer hit it close through the day picking up four birdies in exchange for a bogey. He almost drove the green on the par-4 fourth hole and left himself a tap-in for birdie on the eighth.
However, some putts didn’t roll in for Mane as he had a couple of lip-outs and two that grazed the hole.
Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu produced a tournament low of 8 under 63 that featured five consecutive birdies to share sixth place on 10 under 203 alongside Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat (68).
Bangalore’s C. Muniyappa climbed into the top 10 at the Tour Championship with an aced par-3 on Saturday. Image courtesy PGTI.
Bangalore’s C. Muniyappa holed his tee shot on the seventh during a round of 69 that saw him tied for eighth place on 9 under 204.
Defending champion and two-time tournament winner Gaganjeet Bhullar (67) was a further shot behind in shared 10th place.
Jamshedpur professionals Karan Taunk (3 over 216), Kurush Heerjee (11 over 224) and Digvijay Singh (15 over 228) were placed tied 49th, T56th and 61st respectively.
Also read: Chibber in sole lead after round two of Tour Championship
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