Thaindian News

Ahmedabad, Jan 28 (IANS) Rahil Gangjee had a roller-coaster of a ride in the last four holes, but in the end emerged with a one-shot lead on a tightly packed leaderboard at the end of the third round of the Gujarat Kensville Challenge here Saturday.

Gangjee’s one-over 73 on a difficult scoring day brought him down from overnight seven-under to six-under 210 for 54 holes.

But Shiv Kapur, who held a share of the lead with Gangjee dropped down dramatically with a 78 and he was now one-under for three rounds and tied 11th.

The next best Indian was Ashok Kumar (75, 70, 74) at three-over and in tied 27th with Petert Uihlein of the US.

American Dodge Kemmer (70) and German Max Keiffer (70) shared the second spot at five-under 211, while English duo Philip Archer (68) and Luke Goddard (70), Swede Jens Dantorp (74) and Dane Andreas Harto were all tied for fourth at four-under 212. Archer moved from overnight 20th to fourth and put himself in the fray.

On a tough scoring day, when the wind and hard greens took a toll, there were just four cards under 70, two 68s and two 69s by Andreas Harto and Callum Macaulay.

Overnight co-leader Shiv Kapur had a nightmarish round that just wouldn’t go away right till the last, where he had a double bogey. He had a round of six-over 78 that saw him plummet to tied 11th at one-under after being seven-under at the start.

The 33-year-old, Gangjee, who has one win on Asian Tour, dating back to his Rookie year in 2004, has not won since. But he has held lead either all alone or a share of it, once each on the European Tour (Avantha Masters 2010) and the Nationwide (Albertsons Boise 2011).

“I know what it is like to go in the lead on the last day. I have also learnt from it. Sure there will be some nervousness,” said Gangjee.

“It was going OK until the 17th hole, and then it started to go badly wrong. My first putt from just off the green rolled up the hill and picked up speed as soon as it got to the top and rolled way past the hole. I thought my next putt was uphill, but it was a lot faster than any other putt I had today, and it ended up 25 feet from the hole. At that point, I felt so embarrassed - it felt like I was playing hockey! So I ended up four-putting for a triple bogey, which wasn’t a lot of fun,” he said.

Kapur managed to hold par for the first seven holes before double bogeying the eighth and he partially recovered with a birdie on ninth and that meant Gangjee was in sole lead.

On the back nine, Gangjee stayed steady with pars from 10th to 14th, while Kapur struggled with the wind and hard greens and his hitting too let him down somewhat. Kapur bogeyed 11th, 13th and 14th which escalated his downward slide.

On the 15th Gangjee moved to eight-under with a 12-foot birdie, but he gave away that shot on 16th and then a double bogey on 17th. “That birdie on the 18th was a good way to finish. I know I was being aggressive but that’s the way I play now. Maybe (playing on) Nationwide Tour has taught me. We have to try and win, nothing less,” said Gangjee, who landed within 10 feet with his second shot and holed it for his fifth birdie of the day.

Meanwhile Kapur added to his woes on the par-4 18th, where he was just off the green. He left his chip short, then hit his first putt five feet past the hole and failed to hole it and ended with a double bogey for a 78.

Scores after third round:
210 R Gangjee (Ind) 68 69 73,
211 D Kemmer (USA) 69 72 70, M Kieffer (Ger) 70 71 70,
212 J Dantorp (Swe) 70 68 74, A Hart (Den) 73 70 69, L Goddard (Eng) 71 71 70, P Archer (Eng) 73 71 68,
213 O Henningson (Swe) 73 72 68, C Macaulay (Sco) 74 70 69,
214 S Benson (Eng) 70 68 76,
215 Shiv Kapur (Ind) 69 68 78, P Dwyer (Eng) 71 72 72, Bjorn Akesson (Swe) 70 73 72,
216 J Gibb (Eng) 72 72 72, R Russell (Sco) 73 69 74, C Doak (Sco) 74 70 72, C Lloyd (Eng) 72 70 74, C Brazillier (Fra) 72 70 74,

Other Indians
219 Ashok Kumar (Ind) 75 70 74,
220 Digvijay Singh (Ind) 72 73 75, Kapil Kumar (Ind) 73 73 74,
221 Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind) 71 75 75, M Singh Pathania (Ind) 75 72 74
222 Ranjit Singh (Ind) 71 73 78, Shamim Khan (Ind) 72 75 75, Vijay Kumar (Ind) 76 72 74,
223 Mukesh Kumar (Ind) 72 73 78, Abhinav Lohan (Ind) 72 73 78,
224 Manav Jaini (Ind) 70 77 77
227 Vinod Kumar (Ind) 75 71 81,