Coimbatore: Viraj Madappa managed to hold onto his slender one stroke lead by carding an even-par 72 for the day and remain at eight-over-par 224 at the end of round 3 of the Tata Steel Tamil Nadu Amateur 2014 being played here at the Par-72 Coimbatore Golf Club.
Delhi’s Vikram Rana, who moved cleared into the second place after matching Viraj by coming in at even-par 72 had been leading at a point
during the round after a scintillating front nine of three-under par 33. Tour veteran Simarjeet Singh, who seems to be in contention every
week, made the moving day his own by carding a one-under-par 71 and moving into the third place along with young Yuvraj Sandhu who shaked off a rough day yesterday to be at four strokes behind the leader at twelve-over-par 228. Syed Saqib Ahmed completes the top 5 tied with Gagan Verma at thirteen-over-par 229.
Under relatively easier wind conditions today, Viraj extended his lead over Vikram to two strokes at the very first hole itself. Birdie on the 2nd hole extended his lead to three strokes through 2. The Delhi lad made amends and set out to make four birdies in six holes to become the leader by one going out. However, Viraj showing tremendous grit got back the lead on the 10th hole itself with a birdie while Vikram dropped a stroke. The Kolkata teenager did not flutter again and despite dropping strokes on 12th, 15th, 16th and 17th recovered with two birdies on the 11th and the 13th holes in between.
Noida’s Simarjeet Singh who brought in the only under-par card of the week said, “Today’s round has given me some hope but it’s not in my
hands.” He added, “The two guys above played brilliant rounds today to be where they are as favourites.”
Top Scores (after 54 holes):
224 Viraj Madappa (75,77,72); 225 Vikram Rana (80,73,72); 228 Simarjeet Singh (77,80,71), Yuvraj Sandhu (74,81,73); 229 Syed Saqib
Ahmed (74,80,75), Gagan Verma (75,78,76); 230 Hemendra Chaudhary (84,72,74); 232 Samarth Dwivedi (82,76,74), Pratap Atwal (79,77,76),
Arjun Sharma (75,78,79)
