Amardip Sinh Malik
Jamshedpur, December 19, 2015: Noida's Amardip Sinh
Malik emerged top contender going into the final round of the 14th TATA Open as
he held on to his overnight lead with a steady one-under-70 in the third round.
Malik's three-day total stood at 13-under-200 at the Rs. 75 lakh event being
played at the Golmuri Golf Course. There was a four-way tie for second place
between Panchkula's Angad Cheema, Noida's Vikrant Chopra, Mukesh Kumar of Mhow
and Bengaluru's C Muniyappa, the quartet snapping at the leader's heels at
11-under-202.
Amardip Sinh Malik (65-65-70), the overnight leader by one
shot, stretched his lead to two strokes on Saturday after a hard-fought 70 that
featured seven birdies, four bogeys and a double-bogey. Malik struggled till
the turn as he could pick up only two birdies against four bogeys. He found the
hazard on the third for the second successive day and attacked the flag for a
chip-in on the sixth but ended up dropping another shot there.
Amardip sank birdie putts from seven to 10 feet on the 10th and
11th to get his round back on track. However, those gains were neutralized
when his erratic tee shot on the 12th landed out of bounds and resulted in
a double-bogey. The 30-year-old then rallied with birdies on three of the
remaining six holes.
Malik landed it within inches of the pin from 120 yards out
to tap-in for birdie on 13. He collected two more birdies with 15-feet
conversions on the 15th and 16th. He could’ve gone lower had he drained a
five-footer on the closing 18th.
“I hit a couple of bad shots and got unlucky with a couple
of bad bounces today. Nevertheless, I’m happy with the one-under since I’m
still ahead despite dropping all those shots. The shot of the day was the
approach on the 13th that landed inches from the flag. That came
immediately after the double-bogey and lifted my confidence,” said Malik, a
winner on the PGTI last year.
He added, “I feel the tournament is now wide open and there
could be as many as eight players in contention. Anyone shooting a four or five
under on the final day could win. This golf course rewards patience and staying
patient would be the key for me in round four.”
Angad Cheema had the rare distinction of making two
eagle-twos in the same round en route his 67 on Saturday. Cheema, a winner on
the PGTI in 2013, holed his approach from 131 yards for eagle on the 10th and
followed that up with a chip-in eagle from 25 yards on the 12th. He also
double-bogeyed on the 15th after landing his tee shot into the hazard.
Vikrant Chopra and Mukesh Kumar, like Cheema, also fired
scores of 67 to climb from overnight tied ninth to tied second. C Muniyappa
shot a 69 to make it a four-way tie for second place.
Abhishek Jha of Bengaluru, the round one leader, was a
further shot back in ninth place.
Defending champion Om Prakash Chouhan of Mhow occupied 16th position
at six-under-207.
Earlier in the day, the second round was completed when the
12 golfers with unfinished rounds from Friday came out at 7 am and
finished their rounds. Thereafter the cut was declared at one-over-143 with
fifty-six professionals making it to the weekend rounds.
TTFI Press release
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