Mukesh emerges sole leader

Mukesh Kumar hit a purple patch in the middle of his third round as he made four birdies in four holes en route to taking a two-stroke lead in the Rs 150,000 Sher-e-Kashmir Open, being played at the breathtaking Royal Springs Golf Course, in Srinagar, on Saturday.

Mukesh shot a three-under 69 on the third day to aggregate nine-under 207.

Jyoti Randhawa was in sole possession of the second place at seven-under 209 following his 69 on Saturday, while last season’s Rookie of the Year Rahul Ganapathy joined overnight leader Gaurav Ghei in tied-third place at five-under 211.

Two more players shot 69’s -- Sanjay Kumar of Lucknow and Dinesh Kumar of Delhi. Sanjay moved to tied-sixth place along with Feroz Ali at three-under 213, one stroke behind Jaiveer Virk. Dinesh was placed tenth at one-under 215.

Playing in the leader group, Mukesh dropped a stroke on the second hole after failing to make his up and down from the greenside bunker. Randhawa birdied the par-5 first to go five-under. Gaurav made a bogey on the third and the leading trio was tied for the lead at five-under.

However, Mukesh turned on the heat with birdies on the seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth with excellent approach shots that left him with birdie putts of less than seven feet. On the 12th, his streak broke when he missed a three-footer for his fifth successive birdie.

“My putting was really hot till the 11th hole. From the 12th onwards, I was not that consistent with my putter,” said Mukesh, who then made a bogey on the 14th and a birdie on the 18th.

"A two-stroke difference doesn’t mean much and I will have to play just like this tomorrow as well if I have to win," he added.

Randhawa was looking forward to Sunday after a good back-nine.

"I wasn't putting well and was a little off with my driving too. But the back-nine was pretty good for me and I started putting well. I am anxious to do well in Jammu & Kashmir as I started playing in this State in Nargota," said Randhawa, who was ranked No.2 in Asia last year but is struggling with his form this season.

"A win would also give me confidence before my US PGA Tour Q-School trip," he added.

Randhawa started with a birdie but made a three-putt bogey from the fringe on the sixth. On the back-nine, he birdied the 10th, 14th and 18th from the fairway bunker with a peach of a seven-iron second shot.

Ghalib leads amateurs: Ghalib Shah led the amateurs with an 80 on the third day to aggregate 233 and continued to enjoy his two-stroke lead over Ashfaq Ahmed. However, Shah would not be eligible for the top prize as he is under the one-year notice period of reverting to amateur status.

Scores (54 holes): 207_Mukesh Kumar(70,68,69); 209_Jyoti Randhawa(70,70,69); 211_Rahul Ganapathy(72,70,69), Gaurav Ghei(68,70,73); 212_Jaiveer Virk(68,72,72); 213_Sanjay Kumar(73,71,69), Feroz Ali(71,71,71); 214_Monish Bindra(72,69,73), Shamim Khan(71,70,73); 215_Dinesh Kumar(73,73,69); 216_Rohtas Singh(70,73,73); 217_Digvijay Singh(73,68,76); 218_Pappan(73,72,73); 219_Ali Sher(74,73,72), KPS Sekhon(72,75,72), Vinod Kumar(72,71,76), Vijay Kumar(70,73,76).

Amateurs: 233_Ghalib Shah(76,77,80); 235_Ashfaq Ahmed(74,81,80); 246_Suhail Khanday(82,80,84)