A superb final-hole birdie enlarged in a single day chief Keita Nakajima’s result in 4 photographs at -18 over the duo of Romain Langasque and gate-crasher Gavin Inexperienced.
Although a yet-to-trail Nakajima goes into the ultimate day of the $2.25 million Hero Indian Open right here with a snug lead, a dramatic twist on Sunday can’t be dominated out. A minimum of 4 gamers saved alive their probabilities of elevating the coveted trophy.
Among the many eight Indians making the ‘lower’ at 143, Veer Ahlawat remained the very best. He stayed six strokes behind the chief after a three-under 69. Manu Gandas (70) spoilt a robust back-nine end after two late
bogeys, in succession.
In a single day chief Nakajima’s two-stroke lead evaporated on the eighth-hole after he despatched his tee-shot into the water for a bogey whereas nearest contender Langasque discovered his fourth birdie to catch up at 16-under.
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To the credit score of the Japanese, he regained focus to rebuild his two-stroke lead after birdies on the eleventh and twelfth. Langasque , determined for birdies, erred on the thirteenth to fall again by three strokes and slipped additional when he double-bogeyed the sixteenth.
Nakajima, too, didn’t crack the 14th for the third day in succession and bogeyed. However he stayed forward at -17 saving par on the fifteenth and consolidated his lead by including a last-hole birdie. Lagasque, too, completed with a birdie.
Whereas all the eye was on the 2 front-runners, Gavin Inexperienced of Malaysia made a cost. He shot a shocking, flawless 64 to leap to the tied-second spot after three birdies on the final 4 holes. On the front-nine, Inexperienced discovered three birdies and an eagle-3 on the eighth gap to boost visions of a robust end. On Sunday, Inexperienced might nicely be the person to observe.
Main scores:
198 – Keita Nakajima (Jpn) (65, 65, 68); 202 – Romain Lagasque (Fra) (66, 66, 70), Gavin Inexperienced (Mal) (72, 66, 64); 203 – Matteo Manassero (Ita) (65, 68, 70), Ko Jeong Weon (Fra) (67, 67, 69).
Different Indians: 208 – Manu Gandas (73, 65, 70); 210 – Aman Raj (68, 68, 74); 211 – Karandeep Kochhar (68, 70, 73); 212 – Shubhankar Sharma (70, 70, 72); 214 – Rashid Khan (71, 69, 74); 219 – Gaganjeet Bhullar (70, 69, 80); and 220 – Jairaj Singh Sandhu (72, 70, 78).
Outstanding Indians who missed the ‘lower’: 144 – Khalin Joshi (71, 73); 145 – Anirban Lahiri (77, 68); 146 – Shiv Kapur (74, 72); 148 – Udayan Mane (72, 76); 149 – Rahil Gangjee (71, 78), Ajeetesh Sandhu (74, 75); 150 – S. Chikkarangappa (78, 72).