Gaganjeet Bhullar has a fair chance of staking his claim on Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf as the Indian golfer today carded a flawless six-under 66 to move to tied third place after the penultimate round of the European Tour event here.
Playing in his first event of the year on European Tour as a full member, Bhullar moved up through the field from overnight tied 13th to join five-time Major winner, Phil Mickelson (63), who himself was in sublime form today.
Ahead of Bhullar and Mickelson were Lee Craig (69) at 12-under and in second place was former World No. 1 Rory McIlroy (68) at 11-under.
Bhullar and Mickelson are at 10-under 202 and will likely play together on the final day.
After finishing his third round, Bhullar said, "I saw a lot of familiar faces on the back nine. There were quite a few Indian supporters walking and following me. It kind of really motivates me and hope to see these guys coming out in a big number tomorrow."
Bhullar's colleagues and compatriots Jeev Milkha Singh (74) and Shiv Kapur (75) slipped down the greased pole and were tied 67th at two-over 214.
Bhullar was ecstatic about his performance.
"Absolutely, that feels really nice. Ever since I've arrived here, I've been striking the ball really good. I knew that I could go low, and thankfully today was one of my lucky days," said the 25-year-old Indian.
"I had a lot of good breaks, putted really well and gave myself a lot of opportunities of making birdies and I guess at the end of the day I'm quite happy with 66."
On the possibility of a pairing with some of the best players in the world, Bhullar said: "It's a great feeling. Last year (at CIMB Classic and WGC) I got paired up with a lot of the big names in the world and it was quite good. You get to learn a lot of new stuff about yourself, about the game, and I think it will be one of those enjoyable Sundays.
