25 February 2021: The Glade One Masters inched towards a thrilling finish on Friday, with Manu Gandas and Om Prakash Chouhan going neck and neck in the race to win the inaugural edition in Ahmedabad. Chouhan shot the low score of the day, an eight-under 64 to secure a share of the lead with Gandas. Chouhan was also in the lead going into the final round of the Gujarat Open, before Chikkarangappa overshadowed him with a final round 68 last week. Gandas retained a share of the lead with a disciplined 67 at 12-under 132.
Gandas punctuated three birdies on either side with a lone bogey at the tenth to account for his 67, just enough to remain in the lead, holding a share of it with Chouhan. Gandas went 24 holes without a bogey since conceding three strokes in two holes at the start of his opening round on Tuesday.
“I kept the momentum going today and didn’t really make any errors besides one three-putt for bogey on the 10th. It’s now necessary to just repeat the process that I have in place during the last round,” said an optimistic Gandas.
The man from Mhow was unstoppable on Thursday. He finished with an eagle on the 17th and a birdie on the 18th for an imposing eight-under thrust moving into the title round on Friday. After the disappointment last week when he let a comfortable seven-stroke cushion drain away in the Gujarat Open, Chouhan will look to heal some wounds with a sixth PGTI Tour victory, should he win tomorrow.
“I was hitting my wedges really well from the start but on the back-nine my putting also began to click. The eagle was special as I read the yardage perfectly and executed the shot as I had planned,” said Chouhan.
“Looking ahead, I feel a four or five under in the final round would give me a really good chance. It will be important to reassess the situation at the turn. If it stays calm like today and there is no wind, I think I have a good chance of returning a four or five under. I’m keen to make up for last week when I stumbled in the final round.”
Angad Cheema produced one of the best rounds of the day, taking off on four straight birdies in a seven-under 65. He could have moved one step closer to the leaders, but a bogey at the 18th meant that he ended the day at 9-under 135, three behind the leaders.
Chikkarangappa made an impression yet again. He shot 67 in the third round to jump ten spots into T4 with Yuvraj Singh Sandhu, who celebrated his birthday this week with a good run. Sandhu had to settle for an even 72 on Thursday as the duo reached the final round at 8-under.
There were five golfers behind Chikka and Yuvraj. Harshjeet Singh Sethie and Rashid Khan had a good day around the course. The two men shot 66 each, climbing 22 spots from T28 overnight to find a spot firmly inside the top ten. Rashid has been struggling to find his rhythm in recent weeks and this round augurs well for his hopes to continue his quest for a place in the Tokyo Olympics.
Karandeep Kochhar also climbed up 15 spots on the leaderboard with a 67 in the third round. The Glade One Masters has been a unique experiment that played to just nine holes in the opening two rounds before switching back to 18 for the last two. There will only be three points to the winner this week, instead of the customary five on the OWGR rankings. M Dharma and Veer Ahlawat shot 68 and 69 respectively as they bunched up in T6 to round off the top ten heading into the final round.
