St Andrews (Scotland), Aug 27 (PTI) India’s most successful player on the Asian Tour, Gaganjeet Bhullar, charged up the leaderboard with an electric 7-under 65 and is lying two shots behind the leader — at tied-third — after three days of the St. Andrews Bay Championship.
With one round to go, Bhullar, winner of 10 titles on the Asian Tour — the most by an Indian — is now 15-under at an event, being held at Fairmont Links. He is tied with Mito Pereira from Chile (67) and South African Jaco Ahlers (68) at the Torrance Course at Fairmont, St Andrews.
Turk Pettit (62) is leading the field at 17-under, while Matt Jones (66) is second at 16-under.
Bhullar had four birdies on the front nine and four more in a row from 12th to the 15th but dropped a bogey on the 16th.
Two other Indians are in the top-10. Ajeetesh Sandhu (64) moved to 14-under and is tied-sixth, while Anirban Lahiri, a co-leader after the first round, shot 67 and is tied-10th.
Among the other Indians, SSP Chawrasia (68) is T-27, Veer Ahlawat (72) is T-36, Viraj Madappa (71) is T-43, Rahil Gangjee (72) is T-49 and Rashid Khan (75) is T-65.
Bhullar, who last won a title in Indonesia a year ago, has been having a low-key season, but has now moved into contention.
“It was a smooth sail, made eight birdies and one bogey. I actually got off to a really good start. I was just thinking about my whole round, I think I ended up hitting 16 greens in regulation today and the first 15 they were all greens in regulation, missed only one fairway today.
“It was a class act. You know, it was the way I drove the ball well, the way I putted, I was quite proud of myself. Actually, the last few months I’ve been trying to work on my game. I’ve been trying to figure out my loose ends and I guess today was one of those rounds when everything came together, and the result was seven under par,” he said.
Sandhu, who has one win on the Asian Tour, started the day in T-21 but went on a rampage with four birdies in the first four holes and added two more on the sixth and seventh.
A dropped shot on eighth saw him turn in 5-under. On the back nine, Sandhu, who is just coming back after being injured for a while, had four birdies against one bogey. His last five holes had three birdies and he returned a card of 8-under 64 and rose to T-6.
Talking about his third round, Lahiri said, “I think it’s kind of even par for how easy the scoring conditions were out there. I played very poorly on the front nine, got off to a bad start, had a cold putter, kept leaving myself in positions that weren’t ideal, and that’s where so many birdies were to be made. I made at least three or four pars out there that felt like bogeys. So I guess it’s one of those days, it looks nice on the scorecard, but I know I left a lot of shots out there.” Pettit shot an incredible bogey-free 10-under-par 62 with eight birdies and an eagle that left him one short of the course record. Australian Jones fired 66 with eight birdies and two bogeys, which came in the first three holes.
American Berry Henson achieved the rare feat of making back-to-back eagles on the par-five sixth and the par-four seventh. He shot a 65 and is in a tie for 15th on 11 under.
Source: PTI News
