Bengaluru's Syed Saqib Ahmed carded a stoic two-under-68 to lead by one shot after the third round of the TATA Steel PGTI's Jaipur Open at the Rambagh Golf Club here on Thursday.
While Saqib took his total to 17-under-193, Dharma returned a gutsy five-under-65 to aggregate 16-under-194 at the Rs. 30 lakh event.
Gurugram-based rookie Priyanshu Singh's round of 63 placed him third at 14-under-196.
Chandigarh's Abhijit Singh Chadha, an Asian Tour regular, fired the day's best score, a flawless 62, to be in tied seventh place at 12-under-198.
Saqib, who had equalled the week's lowest score of 61 on day two, entered the third round with an overnight three-shot lead.
On Thursday, he sank three birdies including a chip-in on the sixth. With his lead increasing to four shots at the turn, Saqib seemed to be on course to take total control on day three.
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However, Saqib couldn't push ahead on the back-nine as the birdies dried up for him. The 25-year-old, who won his only event on the PGTI in February 2018, ended up dropping a bogey on the 17th to close the day with just a one-shot advantage.
Ludhiana's Pukhraj Singh Gill (66), Kolkata's Divyanshu Bajaj (67) and Gurugram-based Abhinav Lohan (69), were all in tied fourth at 13-under-197.
Defending champion Aman Raj (65) of Patna was placed tied 10th at 11-under-199 while PGTI Order of Merit leader Rashid Khan (65) of Delhi occupied tied 23rd place at eight-under-202.