The Hindu : Sport : Three share lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 14, 2006

Sport

Sport

Three share lead

D. Ravi Shankar

AAMBY VALLEY (Lonavala): Three players emerged as frontrunners on the penultimate day of the Aamby Valley Asian Masters golf tournament.

Hendrik Buhrmann regained his top spot with a course record-equalling seven-under 65 for the third round and he shared the lead with Ashok Kumar and England's Simon Hurd. All three were tied at 10-under 206 after the completion of 54 holes.

Buhrmann is resolved not to throw it away this time. With four second-place finishes on the Asian Tour and no wins, he is dead set on winning a title. The South African was in top form on the par fives.

Buhrmann slammed two eagles (third and 14th) and also had a birdie on the par five 12th. His superb putting saw him log four birdies and two eagles. The bogey on the 16th prevented him from setting a new course record as he went on to share Shiv Kapur's record of seven-under 65.

Ashok off colour

Second round leader Ashok Kumar was strangely off colour. The three par starts on the first three holes were understandable, but the bogey on the fourth and the double bogey on the sixth saw his lead being whittled.

Hurd, meanwhile, had logged two birdies on the second and third and on the sixth hole when Ashok double bogeyed, the Englishman nosed ahead. From then on it was a tussle for the lead with Ashok managing to regain the lead on the ninth with successive birdies on the eighth and ninth holes.

Colourful player

Hurd is a colourful as well as hyperactive player. Every shot of his, whether a drive or a chip or a putt, is topped with a loud comment. Expletives are commonly used and he is not averse to fraternising with his caddie with high fives and clenched fist jubilation.

Simon Griffiths at nine-under 207, Kane Webber at seven-under 209, Terry Pilkadaris at six-under 210 and Gaurav Ghei along with Marcus Both at five-under 211, all are poised to pull off upset wins.

The scores (after 54 holes): 1. Hendrik Buhrmann (RSA) (66, 75, 65), Ashok Kumar (Ind) (67, 66, 73), Simon Hurd (Eng) (67, 70, 69) 206 each; 4. Simon Griffiths (Eng) (68, 72, 67) 207; 5. Kane Webber (Aus) (69, 74, 66) 209; 6. Terry Pilkadaris (Aus) (72, 71, 67) 210; 7. Gaurav Ghei (Ind) (74, 69, 68), Marcus Both (Aus) (70, 71, 70) 211 each; 9. Rahul Ganapathy (Ind) (74, 69, 69), Garth Mulroy (RSA) (74, 68, 70) 212 each.

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