Shamim Khan
Pune, April 7, 2016: Delhi 's Shamim Khan fired a course record
nine-under-63 at the Oxford Golf Resort to snatch the round three lead at the
inaugural Pune Open on Thursday. Khan's immaculate third round effort pushed
his tournament total up to 11-under-205 that placed him one shot ahead at the
Rs. 30 lakh event.
Shamim Khan (70-72-63), who was overnight tied 13th, lying
seven behind the lead, climbed atop the leaderboard in round three courtesy a
phenomenal bogey-free round of 63 which broke the previous course record of
eight-under-64 of Bengaluru’s Abhishek Jha. Jha had posted the previous record
score during the PGTI Players Championship in 2011.
Shamim went on a birdie-blitz early in his round, picking up
strokes on the second, third, fourth, sixth and ninth. On the front-nine, the
2012 Rolex Ranking champion, drained three birdie putts from nine to 12 feet
and also chipped it to within inches of the cup for birdies on two occasions.
Khan, a winner of 11 titles, kept hitting it close on the
back-nine and thus pocketed four more birdies. One of the highlights of his day
was the 20-feet birdie conversion on the 14th. The 37-year-old, one of the most
consistent performers on the PGTI, is now well-placed to win his first title in
over a year.
“I just kept setting up birdie opportunities for myself
through the day thanks to some accurate hitting. My chipping was top-class and
my putting also clicked for the first time this week. Importantly, I kept the
errors out.
“I had dropped shots towards the end of the round on both
day one and day two, but I didn’t repeat that today. My best birdie of the day
came on the 14th where I sank a tough sideways putt from 20-feet. That
conversion gave me the confidence to finish the round well as I added another
birdie on the closing 18th,” said Shamim.
He added, “At this course, it takes a lot to keep your focus
going, as walking on the undulating fairways can be quite draining. That’s why
it’ll be imperative to concentrate harder in the final round. I’ll have to
judge the lines and the speed on the greens well in order to stay ahead on the
last day. I’ve already had four top-10s from five starts this year and this is
a great opportunity for me to finally win a title at Oxford , a course where I’ve come close to
winning earlier.”
Harendra Gupta (72-65-69), who was overnight sole second,
ended round three in tied second place to keep himself in contention. Gupta was
in trouble early on as he found bunkers on every hole till the sixth. On that
stretch, he suffered two bogeys but also managed to salvage a birdie and three
pars as a result of some brilliant bunker shots.
Harendra picked up pace from the ninth by adding four more
birdies to his card. He produced his best birdie of the day on the 16th where
he once again came up with a spectacular bunker shot.
Gupta said, “I’ve kept myself in the reckoning thanks to my
good recoveries from the bunkers today. I could’ve been in deep trouble had I
not got those early birdies from tough positions. I had a far better back-nine
as I was more relaxed after having negotiated the front-nine without much
damage.
“I was drawing most of my tee shots today. I’ll have to
rectify that if I want to be in contention in the last round,” added Harendra.
Mandeo Singh Pathania (69-66-71), the round two leader,
slipped to joint second place after a score of 71 that featured two birdies and
a bogey. Pathania had an ordinary day with the putter having totalled 36 putts.
“I’m right there in the mix but I need a few more putts to
fall. I felt I was trying a bit too hard on the greens today and that resulted
in a number of missed putts. Hopefully, a hot putter in round four will put me
back on track,” said Pathania.
Gaganjeet Bhullar was placed tied ninth at six-under-210
after his third round of 71.
Pravin Pathare was the highest-placed among the
professionals from Pune. He closed round three in tied 27th at
even-par-216.
PGTI Press release
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