SCORESHEET
Day 2
Day 1

February 4th 2010, Kolkata: Veteran Mukesh Kumar fired a four under 66 to race into a three-stroke lead on day three of the Aircel-PGTI Players Championship presented by Tollygunge Club. Mukesh currently has a total of 10 under 200 and is three strokes ahead of Manav Jaini.

Mukesh Kumar (65, 69, 66), now staring at a record ninth title on the Aircel-PGTI, played a steady and bogey-free round to ensure that he enjoys a comfortable lead heading into the final round. He birdied the fifth and seventh to make the turn at two under. Mukesh had an eagle opportunity from 20 feet on the seventh but just missed out on that putt.

The 44-year-old from Mhow was hitting the ball extremely well on Thursday and therefore set up another eagle putt on the 10th. He missed the 10-footer but managed to garner a birdie on the 10th. Mukesh’s last birdie of the day came on the 13th where he converted a difficult (uphill) birdie putt from 20 feet.

“I hit it really well and took advantage of all the three par five holes, making birdies on each one of them. The key to my good score was hitting all the fairways and making 16 regulations.

“In fact, when I teed-off this morning, my strategy was to make maximum regulations and not attack too much. I wanted to play steady because I knew my closest rivals Manav Jaini and Sanjay Kumar will also not attack the pins,” said Mukesh.

He went on to add, “I am quite confident ahead of round four since I have won on this course a few times in the past. However, I will need to be a little cautious at the start because one can gain or lose three strokes pretty quickly on this course. I will play it steady on the first nine holes and will then decide my strategy for the back nine depending on the scores at the turn.”’

Manav Jaini (67, 67, 69), who is currently second at seven under 203, made five birdies against four bogeys for his 69 on Thursday. The Delhi-based professional was one over after 14 holes but then made consecutive birdies on the 15th and 16th to finish at one under for the day. Jaini fired his sand wedge shot from 100 yards to within two feet for an important birdie on the 16th.

Jaini said, “It was an up and down round today. My good shots today landed in the wrong places, just the opposite of what happened in round two. I didn’t play that bad but my calculations on club-selection and the wind went wrong.”

Anthony Choat of Australia, Kolkata’s Raju Ali Mollah and Mhow-based Om Prakash Chouhan are tied third at five under 205.

Digvijay Singh is a further stroke behind in sixth place. Shiv Prakash and Kolkata’s Feroz Ali Mollah share seventh place at three under 207.

Anthony Choat and Shiv Prakash’s scores of seven under 63 were the best in round three.