Chandigarh's Ajeetesh Sandhu and Bengaluru's C Muniyappa held a one-shot advantage after the third round of the Rs. 50 lakh PGTI Masters at the Classic Golf & Country Club here today.
Sandhu (65-71-68) fired a four-under 68 while Muniyappa (68-67-69) returned a three-under 69 in round three as both held the joint lead with identical totals of 12-under 204. Delhi's Ashok Kumar (68-67-70) was one shot off the lead in third place.
Sandhu, who had shot a 65 in round one to take the lead, thereafter slipped to tied third in round two after a score of 71. However, the 27-year-old worked his way back to the top of the leaderboard with a gritty 68 in round three. His only blemish in the third round was the opening bogey thanks to a missed chip-putt.
It was one-way traffic for the Chandigarh lad from there on as he went on to collect five birdies. He kept the errors out and at the same time knocked down two birdies from a range of 10 to 15 feet besides setting up two three-foot birdie conversions as a result of some brilliant wedge shots.
Muniyappa, who finished as the joint round two leader earlier in the day after a score of 67, held on to his position in round three courtesy a 69 that saw him convert from 10 feet on three occasions.
Muniyappa, a former Indian Open champion, began hitting the right notes in the second round when he made two birdie chip-ins in quick succession on the first and fourth. He had holed the first of the two, from the bunker.
The 39-year-old's second round 67 pushed him up from tied fifth to tied first. He then kept the intensity going in round three and thus held on to the joint lead.
Ashok, like Muniyappa, had also carded a 67 in round two and thus shared the halfway lead with the latter. However, a 70 in round three meant, Ashok slipped two spots to third place at 11-under 205.
Gurgaon's Manu Gandas produced the best score of round three, a six-under-66, to end the day in tied fourth at 10-under-206 along with Noida's Vikrant Chopra (70), who led the field when play was suspended due to fading light yesterday.
The second round, which was left unfinished on Wednesday due to the rain delay, was completed this morning. Thereafter, the cut was declared at even-par-144 with 52 professionals and one amateur making it to the last two rounds.
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