The sting in his swing was missing as Indian golfer Chirag Kumar endured a tough day at the Delhi Golf course, battling to an even par 72 to hold on to a slender one-stroke lead after the penultimate day at the USD 400,000 Panasonic Open India here today.
Leading by three strokes at the start of the day, Chirag managed to aggregate 11-under 205, one stroke ahead of Bangladesh's Siddikur Rahman, who once again proved that at DGC he is always in the reckoning for the title as he brought home a flawless four-under 68, which included a last hole birdie.
Bangalore's S Chikka was also in hunt and could have finished day 3 higher but he blew it when he dropped a bogey on the final hole -- his only blot of the day. He carded 68 to share the third spot with Zamal Hossain of Bangladesh, who posted 70 for a total of 208.
One stroke behind them were overnight leader Mithun Perera of Sri Lanka, who carded one-over 73 and Thailand's Thaworn Wiratchant (69).
Among other Indians, Shubhankar Sharma (67) and Vikrant Chopra (71) were tied 7th, while Rashid Khan (69), Sujjan Singh (70) and Shankar Das (71) also lied inside the top 10 at tied ninth.
On a day when bogeys and birdies flew in equal measure from his club, Chirag was still smiling in the end considering the way things started for him on day three.
Chirag struggled a bit with his drive today as he hit his tee shot into the bushes on the opening hole where he dropped a double bogey after picking up birdies in the same hole for the last two days.
Shrugging off the disappointment he birdied the 3rd and 8th hole to make the turn at even-par. However, more disappointment lied ahead for the Delhi golfer as he stumbled to a couple of bogeys at the 11th and 12th.
But a gritty Chirag once again hit a hat-trick of birdies for the third time in the week from 13th to 15th to go one-under but he gave it away on the par three 17th.
"Right now, I'm happy that the round is over. The way I was playing, I'm happy with the score I came back with. I was all over the place today. I'm not disappointed, I'll take it as a positive," said the 31-year-old Chirag.
"I kept telling myself not to let the bad shots get to me. I kept grinding out until the very last hole. I stuck to my play and didn't get defensive. You can't let bad shots get to you," added the Indian, who had secured his Asian Tour card after finishing tied second in Macao Open three weeks ago.
