Coimbatore: Noida’s Amardip Sinh Malik surged ahead on day three of the PGTI Players Championship at Coimbatore Golf Club after firing a three-under-69. Malik’s three-day total of nine-under-207 placed him one shot ahead of the rest. Delhi’s Naman Dawar posted an even-par-72 to lie second at eight-under-208.
Amardip Sinh Malik (70-68-69), in pursuit of his maiden title, climbed from overnight tied fourth to pole position thanks to a clinical 69 on Friday. Malik began with five pars and earned his first birdie of the day with a 10-feet conversion on the sixth. The 28-year-old then found the par-5 10th green in two shots to pick up another stroke. A chip-putt for birdie on the 13th took him to three-under but a misjudgment on the 14th led to his only bogey of the day. Amardip, who had ended 2013 in 19th place on the Rolex Rankings, sank another birdie on the 15th to emerge as one of the top contenders for the title.
Malik said, “My ball-striking has been good this week even though I’ve missed a number of putts. I had a terrific second-nine on day two that helped me consolidate my position on the leaderboard. We haven’t encountered the typical Coimbatore wind so far this week but nonetheless it was more windy today as compared to the last two days. I bogeyed the 14th after misjudging the direction of the wind. I’ve not had a great start to the year since I had to withdraw from two events due to a neck injury. But I’m now recovering from the injury and would like to make an impact on the season.”
Naman Dawar (68-68-72) produced a fighting 72 on Friday to end the day in second position. Dawar, who was overnight tied second, double-bogeyed the first and bogeyed the fourth to drop three strokes on the first four holes. He regained some lost ground with chip-putt birdies on the ninth and 13th. However, Naman suffered another setback when he double-bogeyed the 15th as a result of a poor tee shot. The professional from the Delhi Golf Club did well to come back once again with birdies on the last three holes.
“I hit a couple of tee shots that were totally off target today and I also topped it on the first that led to a double-bogey. However, I was able to get back into the game in the middle stages as well as at the end. The two long birdie putts on the 16th and 18th helped me close the day in a positive frame of mind. I’ll look to cut out the errors on the final day,” said Dawar.
Chikkarangappa S of Bangalore and Kolkata’s Feroz Ali Mollah are in tied third place at seven-under-209.
Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow, who was overnight tied second, is now in fifth place at six-under-210.
The Delhi duo of defending champion Rashid Khan and round two leader Kapil Kumar are in tied 11th spot at three-under-213. Kapil shot a 79 to slip down the leaderboard on Friday.
Chandigarh’s Sujjan Singh and Delhi golfer Vinod Kumar shot the day’s best score of 67. While Sujjan occupies tied 11th position, Vinod is in tied 15th place.
Leading Scores:
207 – Amardip Sinh Malik (70-68-69)
208 – Naman Dawar (68-68-72)
209 – Chikkarangappa S (71-69-69), Feroz Ali Mollah (72-66-71)
210 – Om Prakash Chouhan (68-68-74)
