Newcastle (England), Jun 5 (Golf News) Indian golfer Viraj Madappa's struggles on the front nine of the Slaley Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort continued, but he also continued scoring very well on the back nine of the course.
Madappa, a one-time winner on the Asian Tour, opened with eight straight pars before running into a triple bogey on Par-4 ninth. He steadied himself on the back as he has done all week with four birdies and no bogeys. He finished with 1-under 70 and was placed tied eighth as the top Indian.
This week Madappa is 7-over for the front nine and 12-under for the back nine, indicating his liking and comfort for the back nine.
Travis Smyth (66) took the third-round lead after signing for a superb five-under-par 66.
Shiv Kapur, who is troubled by a bone spur, had a big struggle with six bogeys and a double bogey against three birdies in his 76 as he dropped from tied third to tied 29th.
Gaganjeet Bhullar (69) parred the entire front nine and then birdied 10th, 12th and 16th but dropped a shot on the 18th in his round of 69 and he moved up to tied 16th to give himself a shot at a Top-10 finish.
SSP Chawrasia (74) was tied 44th, S Chikkarangappa (73) was tied 48th, while Ajeetesh Sandhu (72), Karandeep Kochhar (72) and Jeev Milkha Singh (78) were tied 69th.
The Australian, 27, topped the leaderboard on eight under par at Slaley Hall Hotel, Spa & Golf Resort, near Newcastle – in an event that marks the Asian Tour’s debut in the UK.
Smyth leads by a shot from Thailand's Sadom Kaewkanjana, who matched the course record with a 65, Zimbabwe's Scott Vincent, in with a 69, and Korean Joohyung Kim, who carded a 70. South African Justin Harding, joint overnight leader with Kim, carded a 71 and is two off the lead.
Smyth is set to feature in the final group for the first time on the Asian Tour but shrugged off the pressure.
Sadom produced one of the finest rounds of his fledgling career to put himself in position to win his third Asian Tour title; in January he claimed the SMBC Singapore Open. Vincent, fresh from his third victory in Japan last weekend, will also go in search of a first Asian Tour title.
The final round promises to be a thrilling day especially as final places in next week's LIV Golf Invitational Series tournament are up for grabs: the leading two players not otherwise exempt will earn a place in the elite field, as will the leading three players not otherwise exempt from the International Series Order of Merit, from the International Series Thailand in March through to this week.
The inaugural USD 25 million LIV Golf Invitational Series tournament will be played at Centurion Club from June 9-11.
Also Read : Vani drops from top-20 to finish at T-31, Amandeep T-39 at Italian Open
News Source : PTI
