The Hindu : Sport : Resurgent Randhawa in joint lead

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Sunday, Oct 14, 2007
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Sport

Sport

Resurgent Randhawa in joint lead

Rakesh Rao

Mundy finds rare ‘albatross’ with a 262-yard strike

Photo: — Sandeep Saxena

LOOKING AHEAD: Joint leader Jyoti Randhawa of India is a picture of concentration on the third day of the Indian Open Golf Tournament.

NEW DELHI: Jyoti Randhawa’s passion for fast bikes has surely taught him the art of accelerating just enough to stay in the race instead of moving to the top gear too soon.

On Saturday, when a low-score was needed to keep alive chances of a successful title-defence in the $500,000 Hero Honda Indian Open golf championship, Randhawa produced it with planned aggression.

With a timely five-under 67, he joined the stocky Thai Chapchai Nirat in the lead at 10-under 206.

“I knew a one-under or par would not be any good. So, I had to shoot really well and I wanted to be somewhere close to the top, preferably within a couple of shots of the leader, if possible, and here I am in tie for the first place,” said Randhawa after firing seven birdies, including four in the flawless back-nine.

Although Nirat retained the satisfaction of being among the leaders each day so far, he admitted that a 73 dented his confidence ahead of the final-day face-off with the defending champion.

Nirat struggles

Nirat struggled with the tricky pin-positions and putted too cautiously and bogeyed twice on the inward nine against the lone birdie on the second hole.

On a day when only 12 out of 73 golfers returned sub-par rounds, New Zealand’s Mark Brown gate-crashed into the final-day leaders’ group with a eight-under 64 that catapulted him to the third place at 209.

Even as Brown made his move with four birdies on either side of the turn, joint-overnight leader Chinese Taipei’s Chang Tse-Peng lost his way after a 77.

Gaurav Ghei, in spite of messing up opportunities to pick up a few more strokes, moved to the fourth spot following a 70. Shamim Khan slipped even as nine Indians were among the top 22 players after three rounds.

But it was Uttam Singh Mundy’s rare ’albatross’ on the 545-yard 18th hole that became the talking point of the day.

After a good drive, Mundy unleashed a 3-wood from about 262 yards.

The ball hit the flag stick, stayed up for a moment and dropped in. “It was a long shot and I could see the ball rolling in. It was a nice way to finish my round,” said Mundy after the most productive shot of his career.

The scores: Jyoti Randhawa (70, 69, 67) and Chapchai Nirat (Tha) (66, 67, 73) 206; Mark Brown (Nzl) (71, 72, 64) 207, Gaurav Ghei (66, 73, 70) 209; Lu Wen Teh (Tpe) (68, 76, 67), Chang Tse-Peng (Tpe) (68, 65, 77) and David Gleeson (Aus) (66, 68, 76) 210; Gary Rusnak (USA) (71, 67, 73) 211; S. Sivachandran (Mas) (73, 70, 69) 212; Danny Chia (Mas) (66, 73, 74) and S. S. P. Chowrasia (68, 71, 74) 213;.

Scott Strange (Aus) (72, 74, 68), Uttam Singh Mundy (70, 76, 68), Mitchell Brown (74, 71, 69), Vijay Kumar (72, 71, 71), Arjun Singh (73, 70, 71).

Ashok Kumar (68, 73, 73), Ross Bain (Sco) (69, 72, 73), Keith Horne (RSA) (71, 70, 73), Mars Pucay (Phi) (70, 70, 74), Rahil Gangjee (71, 67, 76) and Shamim Khan (68, 69, 77) 214.

Other Indians: Rahul Bakshi (A) (70, 73, 72) and Jaiveer Virk (73, 69, 73) 215; Gurbaaz Mann (66, 76, 74) 216; Jeev Milkha Singh (72, 74, 71) 217.

Harmeet Kahlon (71, 75, 72), Harinder Gupta (71, 74, 73), Gaganjeet Bhullar (71, 73, 74) and Digvijay Singh (73, 70, 75) 218; Rashid Khan (A) (74, 71, 74) and Mukesh Kumar (73, 69, 77) 219; Chiragh Kumar (69, 74, 77) 220; Mohammad Islam (69, 77, 75) and Rahul Ganapathy (69, 76, 76) 221; Firoz Ali (71, 74, 79) and Gagan Verma (A) (72, 74, 78) 224; Amardip Malik (71, 74, 83) 228.

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