Hyogo, Japan: Indian golfer Shiv Kapur slid to tied 11th position from tied eight position on the third day of the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open here today.
Kapur who was started the day at seven under 135 shot to two under 69 to end the third day five shots adrift the leader Masamichi Uehira of Japan.
Kapur’s overall score for three days is nine under 204.
The Delhi golfer sank two bogies and an eagle against two bogeys. Kapur did not have very good front nine and lifted his game in the back nine.
“I was a couple of over-par after nine. I really fought back hard. I had a good rest last night. I think my first fairway of the day was on the ninth hole. I was completely out of rhythm,” said Kapur.
“I dug deep and I told my caddy, ‘let’s shoot a 31 on the back nine and get back into this.’ I almost did that if I birdied the last but you can’t complain with the way I fought back. All in all it was a good comeback to give myself a chance if I can hit a low one.”
“I hit a perfect tee shot and hit my three wood (250 yards) to eight feet which I sank (eagle on the 12th hole). It was a great second shot that set it up but you still need to knock in your putt,” said the 2005 Asian rookie of the year.
Meanwhile, local hope Masamichi Uehira fired a third round score of six-under-par 65 for a narrow one-shot lead over Filipino sensation Juvic Pagunsan at the Asia-Pacific Panasonic Open on Saturday.
It was Uehira’s best score of the week as he returned with 14-under-par 199 but has nine players who are within four shots off the pace at the 150 million Yen (approximately US$1.9 million) event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and Japan Golf Tour.
Pagunsan, the reigning Asian Tour number one, was leading for most of the round but dropped bogeys on 13 and 15 to settle for 67 at the Higashi Hirono Golf Club.
Japanese Tomohiro Kondo, Koumei Oda and Masahiro Kawamura were a further shot back while overnight leader Hiroyuki Fujita posted a 70 to lie in tied sixth place on 202.
Wu Ashun (67) of China, who played on the Asian Tour in 2008 and 2009, and Darren Beck (70) of Australia both shot hole-in-ones on holes seven and 11 respectively and are four shots back.
By Indian Sports News Network
