Right from his first tee shot to the last putt, a sizeable gathering stayed right with him. The turnout resembled a fourth-day crowd with the leadergroup. But then, India's Jyoti Randhawa was not even in the final group. He was playing two flights ahead, and began the penultimate day six strokes off the pace.
But his followers knew what the 35-year-old was capable of. The defending champion, looking calm, composed and relaxed for the first time in three days, didn't disappoint his followers – including his seven-month-old son in a pram.
Randhawa made his all-too-familiar charge on the third day of the $500,000 Hero Honda Indian Open at the par-72, 7,014-yard Delhi Golf Club on Saturday.
It was a charge that didn’t materialise till halfway through the round. As the mercury began to soar, his putter too caught fire. His playing partners were awestruck, while the huge gathering was spellbound by the magic he created.
Saturday’s sizzling five-under-par 67 propelled the reigning champion to the top of the leaderboard alongside new talent Chapchai Nirat (73), with a three-day aggregate of 10-under 206 each.
A short while before Randhawa and Nirat submitted their cards, little-known Kiwi Mark Brown returned a stunning eight-under 64 to move up to third spot, a stroke behind on 207.
DGC's eternal favourite Gaurav Ghei, the first-day leader, returned a two-under 70 to occupy sole fourth spot, three strokes behind the leaders.
Jubilant crowd
But the huge crowd seemed to know who the leader would be after the third day of the Asian Tour event. "There are days when you decide you want to do something specific, and it happens exactly the way you want it to. Today was one of those days," observed Randhawa.
If not for two blemishes, the two-time champion would have been sitting on a two-stroke cushion. Two errors with his approach shots saw the European Tour regular drop shots on the fourth and ninth holes.
He failed to reach the green in two on the par-4 fourth and just reached the edge of the green on the ninth, duly three-putting for a bogey. One-under at that stage, Randhawa knew he had to do something special to keep his chances of defending the title alive.
"I knew a one-under or par would be no good. I wanted to be somewhere close to the top, preferably within a couple of shots of the leader," Randhawa explained.
After that blemish on the ninth, the 35-year-old just shifted gears. A hat-trick of birdies after taking the turn saw him move to second spot behind pace-setter Nirat. He sank a 15-footer on the 10th and a five-footer on the 11th, both set up by brilliant approach shots.
When Randhawa sank a six-footer set up by a 6-iron tee-shot on the par-3 13th, word got around that the champion had begun his move to the top. A few following Ghei, playing a group ahead, stayed back to follow Randhawa instead.
"Today, I was totally focused. I was not as sharp on the first two days. I was committed to my shots and I was committed to my line on the green," said the six-time winner on the Asian Tour. He did read the line well on the 14th for another birdie before cooling off on the last four holes for his 67. He had other birdies on the first and seventh.
Nirat, one ahead after the 15th, dropped a stroke on the 16th to fall back to 10-under and share the lead with the reigning champion.
Leading scores (after 54 holes): 206: Jyoti Randhawa (Ind, 70, 69, 67), Chapchai Nirat (Thai, 66, 67, 73); 207: Mark Brown (NZ, 71, 72, 64); 209: Gaurav Ghei (Ind, 66, 73, 70); 210: Lu Wen-teh (Tpe, 68, 75, 67), Chang tse-peng (Tpe, 68, 65, 77), David Gleeson (Aus, 66, 68, 76); 211: Gary Rusnak (US, 71, 67, 73); 212: S Sivachandran (Mal, 73, 70, 69); 213: Danny Chia (Mal, 66, 7, 74), SSP Chowrasia (Ind, 68, 71, 74).
