By IANS
Gurgaon : Jyoti Randhawa carded a one-under-par, 71 to take a six-stroke lead with a total of 13-under-par, 203 in the third round of the Rs.6.5 million DLF Masters golf tournament here Saturday.
Randhawa birdied the second hole after he hit a driver and eight-iron to eight feet at the DLF Golf and Country Club here.
However, he dropped a shot on the par-four seventh hole after he left his lob-wedge second shot short of the green, chipped to nine feet and missed the putt for par and made the turn at level-par, 36 for the front nine.
"The playing conditions were tough today as it was quite windy and the pins were tucked up leaving no margin of error. Any under par rounds today are good," he said.
Comfortably placed to win is third event on the 2006-07 Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) tour, Randhawa added: "I will try and keep playing the same way as I have over the last three rounds. I plan to just go out and give it my best shot and will take whatever comes my way."
Shiv Kapur carded the best round of the day, a six-under-par, 66 and moved up to second place with a total of seven-under-par, 209.
He played consistently, making birdies on the third, fourth, eighth and ninth holes to make the turn at four-under-par, 32.
He picked up his fifth birdie of the day on the 10th hole, but dropped his only stroke of the day on the par-four 13th hole where he left his four-iron second shot short of the green, chipped to six-feet and missed the putt.
He then birdied the par-five 14th, saved an excellent par on the 17th where he hit his drive into the water hazard, took a penalty drop and hit his third shot to eight-feet and holed out for par and picked up another birdie on the last to card a 66.
"I had good control on my ball flight. I have been hitting the ball well all week but I holed a few putts today, which made all the difference," said Kapur.
S.S.P. Chowrasia is in sole third place after he carded a two-under-par, 70 in the third round Saturday. He birdied the fourth, ninth, 14th, 17th and 18th holes, but bogeys on the fifth, 13th and 16th holes resulted in a one-under-par round Saturday, taking his total to six-under-par, 210.
"I am playing well and would like to shoot a really low score tomorrow in order to card a good finish this week," said Chowrasia.
Richard Blackwell carded a two-over-par, 74 and is in fourth place at 212, while the two stalwarts of Indian golf – Vijay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar – are a stroke further behind at 213. Gaurav Diwan and Gaurav Ghei are tied at two-under-par, 214 and Singapore's Lam Chih Bing is in ninth place at 215.
Meanwhile, PGTI Order of Merit leader Ashok Kumar had a better round Saturday, carding a bogey-free, four-under-par, 68.
SCORES (Round III): 203 Jyoti Randhawa (68,64,71); 209 Shiv Kapur (72,71,66); 210 S.S.P. Chowrasia (71,69,70); 212 Richard Backwell (68,70,74); 213 Vijay Kumar (70,70,73), Mukesh Kumar (70,71,72); 214 Gaurav Diwan (69,68,77), Gaurav Ghei (72,69,73); 215 Lam Chih Bing (75,71,69)