By IANS
Jamshedpur (Jharkhand) : Mukesh Kumar, carding a 67, was in sole lead at the end the third round of the Tata Open Golf 2008 Saturday. Mukesh’s overall eight-under-par 204 puts him a stroke ahead of Harendra Gupta who also shot 67 going into the final round on an aggregate of 205.
The field was restricted to 52 professionals and four amateurs after the cut was made at nine over par on Friday. On Saturday the entire field played nine holes each on both the courses – Beldih and Golmuri.
Mukesh Kumar, the 2002 Tata Open champion, was two under at the turn as he made birdies on the fifth and sixth holes at Golmuri. He had an action-packed nine holes at Beldih. Mukesh had bogeys on the 12th and 14th and then had a flurry of birdies on the 15th, 16th and 18th. “I was reading the greens much better today. As a result my putting also improved. I’m now confident going into the final round,” said Mukesh after his superlative effort.
Harendra Gupta made a tremendous start at Golmuri with birdies on the first and second but then fell back dropping bogeys on the fourth and sixth. Then on the seventh, Gupta had a birdie after missing an eight feet putt for eagle. The Chandigarh pro picked up the pace at Beldih by sinking birdies on the 12th, 13th and 16th. However, he dropped a shot with a bogey on the 17th.
“I felt my rhythm was back today. My hitting was good and the swing wasn’t giving me any trouble any more. If it stays this way I feel I have a very good chance of claiming my first Tata Open title,” said Gupta.
Rafick Ali Mollah is in third position at the moment, four strokes behind Harendra Gupta. Rafick’s round of one under 69 took his total to three under 209. He sank birdies on the fourth, fifth, seventh, 10th, 16th and 18th and bogeys on the sixth, eighth, 12th and 15th.
Defending champion S.S.P. Chowrasia occupies tied fourth position with Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh. The two have a total of two under 210. While Chowrasia fired even par 70, Sujjan shot an amazing three under 67 on Saturday.
Jamshedpur’s Karan Taunk is the best placed amongst amateurs at tied 32nd. He fired 71 to total nine over 221.
Thirty golfers with the best scores at the end of round two teed off from Golmuri and finished at Beldih. The par for the combined courses was 70. This format will also be followed on Sunday.