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TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020 Day 3: Chandigarh’s Akshay stays atop leader board, Karandeep continues in second spot
Other Chandigarh golfers in the top-10 were Aadil Bedi (71) in tied sixth at seven-under-209, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (68) in tied eighth at six-under-210 and Amrit Lal (72) in tied 10th at five-under-211
Chandigarh golfer Akshay Sharma emerged as the outright favourite for the title after extending his lead to five shots in round three of the TATA Steel PGTI Players Championship 2020 presented by Panchkula Golf Club. Akshay, the overnight leader by three shots, played a five-under-67 on Friday. His three-day tally was 19-under-197 (64-66-67).
Another Chandigarh golfer Karandeep Kochhar, who played a round of three-under-69, was placed second with a tally of 14-under-202.
Bengaluru’s Chikkarangappa (72) was placed third at 11-under-205 while Kolkata’s Viraj Madappa fired the day’s best score of 64 to rise 21 spots to the fourth position at nine-under-207.
Other Chandigarh golfers in the top-10 were Aadil Bedi (71) in tied sixth at seven-under-209, Yuvraj Singh Sandhu (68) in tied eighth at six-under-210 and Amrit Lal (72) in tied 10th at five-under-211.
Akshay, who had gone bogey-free in the first two rounds, made his first error of the tournament when he dropped a double-bogey on the second after an inaccurate bunker shot. He immediately bounced back with birdies on the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh. He made a good up and down from the bunker on the sixth and excellent recovery from the trees on the seventh.
“It was another solid round for me barring one error early on. My hitting was as good as the last two rounds but I didn’t hit it that close to the holes today. My placement wasn’t as accurate if one compares to the previous two days.
“I made a great recovery from the trees on the seventh where I chipped out and followed that up with an exceptional 3-wood third shot which landed five feet from the pin. I made some long conversions as the greens at Panchkula are playing very soft and true so it’s easier to find the hole if you’re on the right line,” says Akshay.
“I have a comfortable lead so I will look to play steady and let the others do all the attacking,” added the 30-year-old golfer.
Karandeep Kochhar (68-65-69), who trailed the leader by three at the start of the day, kept pace with Akshay for most of the day collecting five birdies on the first 13 holes. Kochhar drove the green on the par-4 sixth to make birdie there and also set up four feet birdie conversions on the fifth and eighth.
Karandeep then suffered a couple of setbacks towards the end dropping bogeys on the 15th and 17th.
He found the hazard on the 15th and got unlucky on the 17th where his ball bounced on the edge of the green, hit a tree, and was deflected about 40 yards away.
Kochhar said, “I had only one bad hole today, the 15th, otherwise it was a good round. I just got a little unlucky on the 17th. A five-shot deficit is not a very big one at Panchkula but the key for me would be playing well on the first four holes and making inroads on that stretch because the following holes do provide scoring opportunities.”
Chikkarangappa (66-67-72) slipped from overnight tied second to third place as a result of his 72 that included three birdies, a bogey, and a double-bogey.