By IANS
Port St Lucie (US) : Daniel Chopra was in shared lead a little past the midway stage in the third round of the Ginn Sur Mel Classic at Tesoro, as he was lying at 16-under alongside Bob Estes as weather and rain continued to haunt the tournament.
Chopra and Estes were through 11 holes in the third round Saturday, when play had to be stopped because of darkness and both were sitting on long birdies on the 12th when they decided to mark the ball and return early Sunday to finish the third round and then start the final round. Estes was two-under in the third round and Chopra was three-under after 11 holes.
Two shots behind Chopra and Estes is Briny Baird at 14-under and he had eight birdies and one bogey in the 15 holes he had played in his third round.
Talking of his putt on the 12th, Chopra was quoted saying, “We could have finished if we had to, but we didn’t need to and it was getting dark.
“These greens, it’s not just slope you have to read. You have to read grain … if we were in 30th spot, we would have gone ahead and putted out, but there’s a lot at stake now.”
In his third round Chopra birdied the second, third, sixth and 11th and his only bogey so far in the tournament has come on the par-5 fifth hole.
Chopra is looking for his career win after 132 starts on the US Tour. The winner’s cheque of $810,000 is alluring but it also means many more things including a start at the Mercedes Championsips, a champions-only tournament at the start of next season plus an exemption to all events next season.
When play was called off there were 13 players within five shots of the lead, but there were also 34 yet to complete their third round. The ground conditions were wet and the pace of play had become extremely slow.
Shigeki Maruyama was also on 14-under through 14 holes and was tied for third with Baird who is also looking for his first PGA TOUR win.
Chopra has been in great nick. He was third at Texas three weeks ago and here he was bogeyfree for 40 holes and that streak finally ended at par-4 fifth, when he missed the green and had a difficult lie for his third. He chipped and then saw his par putt slide past the cup and Estes was in sole lead.
Off the very next hole, Chopra sank a 15-footer for birdie at the par-4 sixth, while Estes bogeyed to fall one shot back in a two-shot swing. But Estes caught up on the next and they were tied at 16-under when the day ended early.
Chopra has twice won on the Nationwide Tour, but never on the PGA Tour.