Abhishek Jha takes massive lead

Edited by Anand Datla

October 31, 2014: Abhishek Jha is firmly in the drivers seat after three rounds at the TAKE Solutions India Masters. The local lad shot 65 in the third round to finish at -19 through 54 holes, to earn a six shot lead over R Murthy and S Chikkarangappa. The trailing duo were at -13 after making 64 and 69 respectively.

Bangalore’s Abhishek Jha blasted a seven-under-65 to zoom into a healthy six-shot lead in round three of the Asian Development Tour’s TAKE Solutions India Masters 2014. Jha’s third round effort at his home course, Eagleton – The Golf Resort near Bangalore, included two eagles and took his tournament total to an impressive 19-under-197. R Murthy and Chikkarangappa, both in joint second, six shots off the pace, ensured the top-3 on the leaderboard were all Bangaloreans. Murthy shot the day’s best score of eight-under-64 at the US$ 70,000 event.

Abhishek Jha (66-66-65), who fired scorching rounds of 66 on the first two days, went one better on Friday. The 27-year-old’s third round 65 helped him extend his overnight lead by four shots. After pars on the first six holes, the 6 feet 5 inches tall Jha, picked up birdies on the seventh and ninth to make the turn at two-under for the day.

Abhishek made the first of his two eagles courtesy a mammoth 40 feet putt on the 10th. A birdie followed on the 11th thanks to a perfect drive but Jha dropped a stroke on the very next hole against the run of play. The lanky golfer collected his second eagle of the day with another 40-feet conversion on the 15th. The icing on the cake for Jha was the birdie on the 17th where he drove the green.

“I putted out of my skin today. Every putt felt like a five-footer. I didn’t expect to make so many putts so I guess I got a bit lucky as well. The two eagles were set up by some great ball-striking as I found the green in two on both occasions before rolling in those long putts,” said an excited Jha, who is now staring at his maiden title.

Abhishek, the 2010 PGTI Emerging Player of the Year, added, “I’m delighted with today’s effort as seven-under is my best at Eagleton. It’ll be fun playing the last round with my regular playing partner Chikkarangappa. We play together almost everyday and that’ll help me play in a more relaxed frame of mind.”

R Murthy (71-68-64) came up with the day’s best of 64 to close round three in joint second at 13-under-203. Murthy’s had three birdies till the 10th but then took off with an astounding run of five consecutive birdies from the 14th through the 18th. Murthy, whose best result has been a runner-up finish on the PGTI, landed his tee shot within a few inches on the par-3 14th and sank a 30-footer on the 16th. He also had a couple of good chip-putts on the final stretch.

“I’m pretty happy to have matched my career-best single-round score today. I had a feeling that a low number is just around the corner for me since I had been shooting low scores during practice few weeks back at KGA. I had a few good pars to begin with and then made some fabulous chip-putts for birdies. I’ve put some distance on my driving thanks to my coach Gaurav Diwan. I’m currently striking the ball better than ever before and that’s been the key this week,” said Murthy.  Murthy’s coach Gaurav Diwan incidentally had an eagle-two on the 18th on Friday and ended round three in tied 25th at two-under-214.

Chikkarangappa (64-70-69) was in tied second along with Murthy post his third round of 69. Chikka, who had four birdies and a bogey on Friday, sustained a minor injury on his left wrist while hitting a chip shot on the 15th. He bogeyed the 15th and then came back well with two birdies on the 16th and 18th after some icing on his wrist.

Five golfers were bunched together in tied fourth at nine-under-207. Among them were, the Bangalore duo of M Dharma and Khalin Joshi, Gurgaon’s Deepinder Singh Kullar, Irishman Niall Turner as well as Swede Nils Floren, who shot a 62 in round two. SSP Chowrasia posted a bogey-free 69 to be tied 18th at five-under-211.

Yashas Chandra of Bangalore, the only amateur to make the cut, carded an error-free 66 to be tied 30th at one-under-215. Jha receives sound advice from fellow professional Anirudh Goyal. Abhishek Jha, said on Friday, that it is the sound advice from his close friend and fellow professional Anirudh Goyal, who also made the cut this week, that has helped him raise his game.

Jha said, “Anirudh is the one who sat me down and asked me to play smart golf this week. Before today’s round began Anirudh told me that a level-par would be a good round for me and I shouldn’t go out there with too many expectations. I thus stuck to the plan and aimed for pars but instead ended up creating lot of birdie opportunities. The game-plan for the last round will also be to play level-par.”