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Day 2
Day 1
 

February 13th 2010, Gurgaon: India’s Rahil Gangjee fired a flawless three-under-par 69 to take a share of the third round lead with six other players on matching 11-under-par 205 at the Avantha Masters on Saturday.

The crowded leaderboard also saw Australia’s Darren Beck, Japan’s Tetsuji Hiratsuka and Chinese Taipei’s Chan Yih-shin heading into the final round of the €1.5 million (approximately US$2.1 million) tri-sanctioned event between the Asian Tour, European Tour and Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) in joint-first place.

Gangjee maintained his good run at the DLF Golf and Country Club and continued to bring some cheers to the home crowd after the country’s marquee names such as Jeev Milkha Singh, Gaganjeet Bhullar and SSP Chowrasia had failed to make it into the weekend rounds.

Gangjee won his maiden Asian Tour title during his rookie year in 2004 and he believes that he can end his six year title drought despite the pressures of being the leading Indian this week.

“The pressure will always be there but I’ve been in this position before and I’ve handled it well,” said the 31-year-old Indian.

Starting his round in tied-10th, Gangjee birdied the third and seventh holes to reach the turn in 34. He pared the next eight holes after the turn before closing with another birdie on the par-five 18th.

“I’m pretty happy because I had no bogeys again today. I’m excited that I’m in the lead but I’m just going to do what I’ve been doing the last three days by playing one shot at a time and enjoying it,” said Gangjee.

Hiratsuka who shot a course record of 62 at the weather-disrupted second round underlined his title ambitions when he returned with a 70 to remain in contention for his career breakthrough on the Asian Tour.

The Japanese enjoyed a flawless opening front-nine where he recorded birdies on the fourth and ninth holes to reach the turn in 34. He then mixed two bogeys against two birdies in his homerun to sign for a 70.

“My putting has been very good today and I’ll happy with my early season form. There are still 18 holes to play tomorrow and I’ll do my best,” said Hiratsuka who earned his Asian Tour card through Qualifying School in 2009 and enjoyed two top-10s in his rookie year last season.

Beck whose maiden Asian Tour win came in Brunei last season proved that he is also ready to mount another genuine challenge this week.

The 31-year-old Australian who started his round tied for fourth, made his move up the leaderboard quickly with three birdies and a bogey in his opening four holes.

He then birdied the par-five sixth to reach the turn in 33 before mixing two bogeys against another birdie in his inward nine.

“If I can play the way I’ve done the last couple of days, it’ll be really good. Just looking at the leaderboard, it’s anyone’s game tomorrow. I’ll do my best and see where I stand at the end,” said the Australian.