New Delhi, December 12 (IANS). Ajitesh Sandhu, who was leading by three shots throughout the night, continued his dominance in the third round and carded three consecutive under 69s to remain ahead by two shots in the Rs 2 Crore Vishwa Samudra Open 2024 presented by Kapil Dev. This tournament is being played at the prestigious Delhi Golf Club (DGC). The Chandigarh golfer’s total score of 54 holes was 11 under 205.
Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain shot the day’s best score of 67 and moved up to second position at nine under 207.
The fourth and final round is seeing a contest between Ajitesh (69-67-69) and Jamal (67-73-67), as there is a huge gap between the top two and the rest of the players. Bengaluru’s M Dharma (71) finished third at four-under 212, while Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu (71) and Delhi’s Rashid Khan (72) finished fourth at three-under 213.
International champion Ajitesh Sandhu started the day on a positive note with a birdie on the second hole, but then there were some worrying moments due to bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes. After getting stuck in the bushes on the ninth hole and without a playable ball, 36-year-old Ajitesh made a good comeback with a difficult conversion from 10 feet to avoid a bogey when it could have been much worse for him.
After this, Sandhu made a birdie conversion of eight feet on the 10th hole, which proved to be the beginning of his comeback. After this, Ajitesh made birdies on the remaining two par-5, 14th and 18th holes and also made birdie on the 15th hole with short-range conversion.
“I wasn’t as strong as I was in the second round but still played steady. There were a few glitches in the middle of the round, but I’m happy I did well,” said Ajitesh, who is looking to win his first title at the DGC. “If you If you hit some good shots on the last few holes at DGC, there are a lot of opportunities to score and I was able to do that.
Jamal Hussain, winner of the last PGTI event played in Assam last month, bounced back with a score of 67 after being four shots off the lead in third place at the halfway stage. Jamal’s excellent ball-striking earned him birdies on three of the four par-5s. Apart from one bogey, he had three more birdies on his card. SSP Chawrasia (73) finished tied eighth with an even-par 216.
Tata Steel PGTI ranking leader Veer Ahlawat (75) finished tied 17th with three-over 219.
–IANS
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