Veer Ahlawat maintains lead at the Players Championship

Veer Ahlawat maintained his lead at the Players Championship despite a quiet third day on the course.

Veer witnessed a roller-coaster kind of round today in which he shot five birdies against four bogeys at the Panchkula golf club.

Noida’s Amardeep Malik (71-65-66) was breathing down the leader’s neck at the culmination of the penultimate round as he struck a terrific 66 consisting of eight birdies and two bogeys to be placed second at 14-under 202.

Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa S (69-65-69) was also in contention in third place at 13-under 203 along with Mysuru’s Yashas Chandra (65-70-69), who occupied fourth at 12-under 204.

Ahlawat, who is in search of his second title, said, “I had a decent round as I continued to hit it well especially off the tee. But it was one of those days when the putts just didn’t roll in for me, the exact opposite of what happened in round two when I converted everything on the greens. To make matters worse my chipping was totally off as I didn’t land it close enough to the flag to be able to make chip-putts.

Noida’s Gaurav Pratap Singh shot the day’s best score of seven-under 65 to move up 34 places into tied 15th at six-under 210. His round featured an eagle, six birdies and a bogey.

Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (66) was the highest-placed among the Chandigarh golfers as he closed the day in tied fifth at 11-under 205 along with Om Prakash Chouhan (66) of Mhow and M Dharma (70) of Bengaluru.

PGTI Order of Merit leader Karandeep Kochhar of Chandigarh occupied tied 11th place at nine-under 207.