Kuala Lumpur: Shiv Kapur of India shot a third round one-under-par 71 at the lucrative US$7 million CIMB Classic on Saturday as he set his sights on a final day flourish at the Kuala Lumpur Golf and Country Club’s West course.
Ranked 14th on the Asian Tour Order of Merit, Kapur said he must erase the mental mistakes to overcome a six-shot deficit from leaders Chris Stroud and Ryan Moore in the prestigious event sanctioned by the Asian Tour and PGA TOUR.
“All parts of my game feel in good shape. I don’t see any weakness right now. I just need to eliminate some mental mistakes,” said the 31-year-old Kapur, who ended the third round in tied 16th position on six-under-par 210.
“My goal is to go as low as I can. Obviously it is going to be tougher pins. They are going to make it as tough as possible. You want to try and make as many birdies. I haven’t set myself any goals so it is just go out and shoot as low as I can and get to double digits,” he added.
He traded two birdies against one bogey and another double bogey on 11th when his tee shot found water but is confident he can shoot a low round and haul himself up on the leaderboard.
“It is tough to recover from a double bogey. I was playing pretty steady for most of the day. I played pretty well even after the double bogey. It is disappointing to shoot one-under-par even though you played better than that,” said Kapur, who is an Asian Tour winner.
“I’m taking in the positives because I fought back well after that to give myself birdie chances. I birdied 14 and 16 coming in so I’m feeling good about my game going into tomorrow. I know there’s a low one in the bag somewhere,” he added.
Gaganjeet Bhullar of India, a four-time Asian Tour winner, returned with a 71 to sit in tied 27th on 213. Anirban Lahiri struggled with a 75 for 64th place.
