Young golfer Viraj Madappa seems to be on a roll as he consolidated his lead to 14 strokes after the end of the third and penultimate round of the IGU Northern India Junior Golf Championship here today.
The Kolkata lad added a three-under 69 to his overnight score to be eight-under 208 for the tournament at the Army Environmental Park and Training Area course here.
With the title almost decided, the fight for minor placing seemed to take importance with Manu Gandas who is placed second at 222 being chased by Tapendra Ghai (223), Piyush Sangwan and Yuvraj Sandhu (224 each) and Karandeep Kochar and Mohan Sardar (225 each).
Meanwhile in Category B, Karandeep Kochar was leading by four shots from his nearest rival Adilbir Singh.
Karthik Sharma was third at 230 while Arjun Prasad was fourth at 231. Saathak Chhiber was fifth at 239.
Viraj, who won the Rajasthan Juniors last week, has been in good nick and today was no different.
With an error-free front nine where he also made two back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth, the 15-year-old took the turn at 2-under.
With a similar stint of form, Viraj birdied the 11th and 12th to be 4-under for the day.
A bogey on the par-3 13th was followed by a birdie on the par-5 14th.
Another bogey on the par-3 16th cut down his score by one shot as he finished the day with a commendable 69.
"I was hitting the ball really well. The win at Jaipur last week has definitely given me a boost," said Viraj.
"Although I have a huge lead, I am not going to take it easy. I am looking forward to my second straight win," added the leader.
