The conditions were pretty much the same for the third straight day. Only in the third round, the greens played a little softer, but fast nonetheless, the course played a wee-bit longer due to the morning drizzle and the wind was really blowing the whole day to test the best amateurs on view.
Only three-time Sri Lankan Open champion Simarjeet Singh and his OIL Indian team-mate Manav Das seemed to pass the test. In fact, they were the only two golfers to submit sub-par cards on the third day of the Southern India Amateur golf championship on Thursday.
Long hitter
Simarjeet's game is best suited to the BGC, where percentage play is the key. Not a long-hitter, the 31-year-old paraded his short-game skills en route to a three-under-par 67 card to force his way into the reckoning. The Noida golfer is two strokes off the pace with a three-day total of four-under-par 206.
Early pace-setter Lahiri struggled for the second straight day, shooting an even-par 70 again. Fortunately for him, his first-day heroics (64) helped him stay two strokes clear of the field. A year after battling for the runners-up spot with Simarjeet, the Merit List leader will hope to ward off the challenger on the morrow.
If Lahiri's friend and roommate Abhishek Jha (208), who is a further two strokes behind Simarjeet, plans to join the party, it could well be a three-cornered fight. Seasoned-campaigner Das, winner many times in the past on the LG Indian Amateur Golf Tour, is realistically not out of the picture, six off the pace at level-par 210.
Barring one silly error on the 11th hole, Simarjeet hardly put a foot wrong the entire day. Finding the greenside bunker with his 7-iron second shot, the 31-year-old left his chip a little short and then two-putted for his lone blemish. That apart, Simarjeet found the fairways with regularity and kept attacking the flag.
He had birdies on the fourth and sixth holes on the outward journey, while he birdied the 15th and 18th, where he holed a 12-footer, on his way back. The 11th-hole error spoilt his card a bit.”I putted better today and hit the ball reasonably well,” said Simarjeet.
Unlucky
There was no problem with Lahiri’s hitting too, but he was unlucky with his putter for the second straight day. The 19-year-old had as many as six lip outs on Thursday. “Absolutely no problem with my hitting, it’s just the scoring that’s not happening,” said a disappointed Lahiri after his 70. He had three birdies and as many bogeys.
Das, out of golf for well over six months due to various reasons, probably played his best round in recent times. He had four birdies, three on the par-threes and holed a 30-footer birdie putt on the par-4 11th. His two errors too came on the par-3s, bogeying the seventh and 16th holes.
Leading scores (after 54 holes):
204: Anirban Lahiri (64, 70, 70); 206: Simarjeet Singh (69, 70, 67); 208: Abhishek Jha (66, 71, 71); 210: Manav Das (71, 71, 68); 212: Amanjyot Singh (68, 69, 75); 213: Jasjeet Singh (71, 72, 70), Saurabh Bahuguna (68, 75, 70), H S Kang (72, 68, 73); 217: Raj Randhawa (75, 70, 72), Mithun Perera (71, 72, 74).
