October 01, 2015: Abhijit Chadha continued his impressive run at the Rambagh Golf Club, retaining a two shot lead over Udayan Mane at the end of three rounds. The Players Championship in Jaipur is poised for an exciting finish with five players within four shots of each other.
Chadha made his first bogey of the week when he made five at the seventh hole. But he made the turn in 34 shots, restoring parity with a birdie at the 8th hole.
A second bogey at the 11th hole failed to dampen the spirits of the 24 year old golfer. He got back to even terms at the 14th hole, before ending the round just as he has in each of the two previous rounds. Abhijit shot back to back birdies at 17 & 18 for a third straight day.
Mane made 67 on Thursday with the help of five birdies and two bogeys as he tried in vain to catch up with Abhijit. But he did manage to reduce his deficit to two going into the final round on Friday. Mane let slip the advantage he built up with a 61 in the first round, when he managed just 69 in the second round.
Sujjan fires a hole-in-one
Sujjan caught fire on his way to the clubhouse, helping himself into third position, just one behind Mane. He, like Abhijit, is a beneficiary of a recent 45 day golfing sojourn in the USA with the IAGA.
Sujjan followed ten straight pars with a sensational hole-in-one at the 11th hole. He added birdies at 14, 17 and 18 to sign off with a brilliant 65 to jump into third place.
The low round of the day though belonged to Shamim Khan and amateur Shubham Narain. Both men made 64 in the third round. Khan is tied for fourth with Shankar Das at 11-under 199. Narain is lying in T12 at 7-under 203 through 54 holes. The veteran made four birdies on the outward nine, before adding three more on his return stretch.
Narain’s effort was underlined by a fine eagle at the par-5 17th hole besides five birdies. The young lad has improved at the 17th as the week has progressed – he made bogey on Tuesday, a birdie yesterday and an eagle this morning to underline his growing confidence.
