Muscat, Feb 12 (PTI) Indian golfers Gaganjeet Bhullar and Rashid Khan suffered nightmarish finishes in the third round, dropping three shots each in the closing stages to drop to Tied-16th and 21st respectively at the USD 2 million International Series Oman on the Asian Tour here.
Bhullar shot an even par 72 for third day running while Rashid (70) fell from five-under to 2-under in a matter of four holes.
Japan’s latest star, Takumi Kanaya continued his impressive performance as he took the third-round lead.
Kanaya started the day with an one-shot lead and by the end still stayed one ahead of fellow Japanese youngster Ryo Hisatsune. Both shot five-under-par 67.
SSP Chawrasia and Shiv Kapur shot 72 each and were tied 31st and S Chikkarangappa (74) was T-59. Honey Baisoya (86) had a horrible day and was T-78.
Jyoti Randhawa (73) slipped from T-12 to T-21 after dropping three shots in first six holes. He got them all back but then again bogeyed 18th and finished with 73.
Bhullar starting the day at Tied-12 looked set to be inside Top-10 but the loss of three shots pulled him down.
Rashid had a nice hat-trick of birdies at the end of the front nine as he carded 2-under 70.
Bhullar opened with a birdie on first, but gave that gain back on the third. He made amends with a birdie on third and added more on seventh and 12th. He dropped a double on 16 and a bogey on 17.
Rashid had a superb front nine with a birdie on third and three in a row from seventh to ninth. A birdie on 12th saw him get to five-under for the day. But he also finished weakly with three bogeys on 15th, 16th and 18th.
Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana also shot 67 to sit in third place, three back from the leader.
Spaniard Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann from Chile moved into the fourth position, four off top spot, after rounds of 68 and 69 respectively.
Kanaya was helped by a brilliant run of four birdies in five holes from the eighth. In all he made six birdies in total and just one bogey.
Two-time Australian Open champion Matt Jones fired a 67 to finish on three-under to give himself an outside chance on Sunday.
Source: PTI News
