Title holder SSP Chawrasia stayed on course to defend his crown as he shared the lead with Spain's Carlos Pigem and England's Eddie Pepperell after the unfinished third round of the Hero Indian Open at the DLF golf Course here today.
Chawrasia and Pepperell were one-under, while Pigem was four-under through 11 holes to take their total to six-under at the Gary Player designed course here.
The 38-year-old from Kolkata was leading by one stroke after the unfinished second round yesterday, while Pepperell (69,70) and Malaysia's Danny Chia (70,69) also had joined him at the top after completing their second round this morning.
Chawrasia, who started the third round in the afternoon after 66 golfers completed their round this morning, dropped a bogey in the second hole before birding the fourth hole and ninth hole.
"I stuck to the same game plan that I have had for the first two rounds. I just want to hit straight, keep the ball in play and keep giving myself chances all the time," he said.
"I am happy that I managed to do that, despite the bogey I dropped. On this course, a few misses (on the green) are bound to happen, but one cannot think about them.
"For instance on the sixth, I had a long par putt and I holed it after coming out of the bunker. The key is not to give away loose shots. Birdies are so difficult to find on this course and they require a lot of hard work, so to give away a bogey is painful."
Pepperell bogeyed the sixth hole but held a one-under score at the turn after making a birdie-birdie finish.
Pigem picked up five birdies - four in the front nine and one in the 11th hole against a bogey at the sixth hole.
"I'm really happy about my round. I started strong with two birdies. I made one mistake with a bogey, then got another few more birdies. So if I can keep playing really good, let's see what can happen tomorrow," he said.
"The most important thing on this course is to have patience. This course is really tough and you need to know when you can be aggressive and when you should be more conservative. That's the key."
Malaysia's Gavin Green fired the best card of the day, sensational a six-under 66 to be one stroke behind the leaders, while Northern Irish golfer Michael Hoey and England's David Horsey shared the fifth spot after being two-under and par after 12 and 11 holes.
Among other Indians, 2015 Champion Anirban Lahiri was three-under at 16th hole to be tied 19th before play was suspended due to darkness, while Chiragh Kumar and Subhankar Sharma brought home a matching 71 to share the 23rd spot.
Shiv Kapur, Rahil Gangjee, Mukesh Kumar, Ashok Kumar, Sujjan Singh, C Muniyappa and Jeev Milkha Singh were among the prominent Indian names to have missed the cut.
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