<p>Abhishek Jha was consistency personified as he set himself a wonderful platform to break his professional title duck at the Take Solutions Indian Masters here on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Playing, perhaps, the best golf of his career, the 27-year-old upped the ante in brilliant fashion, carding a superb third-round seven-under 65 to barge into a whopping six-shot lead at his home Eagleton Golf Resort.<br /><br />Jha’s training partner and friend S Chikkarangappa struggled to a three-under 69 to share the second spot at 203 with Karnataka Golf Association’s R Murthy, who rose through the leaderboard with a spectacular eight-under 64.<br /><br />Having missed the cut in the Eagleburg Masters held at the very same course in early October, Jha arrived into this tournament with a new-found determination on doing well and the lanky 6’5’’ youngster has backed that ambition with some superb golf.<br /><br />Just like he has done over the last two rounds, the towering but affable Jha continued to reveal a new facet of his game that his friends at Eagleton had been waiting to see for a long time. Following a slow start to the round, he began to warm up nicely, striking the ball dead-straight like a machine and holing almost all his putts as the following crowd lapped it up generously.<br /><br />After parring the opening six holes, he nailed his first birdie on the seventh hole, sinking a six-footer before going two-under for the day with a 10-foot birdie on the ninth.<br /> Having gained his confidence, he then started to drive home the advantage as his playing partners -- Nils Floren (74) and Chikkarangappa -- started to struggle with their hitting.<br /><br />On the par-5 10th he sunk a sensational 40-foot eagle, curling the beautifully from right to left as loud cheers rang out. He followed that up with a six-foot birdie on the very next hole as he stretched his lead to five shots. His momentum took a bit of a dip on the 12th as he bogeyed for the first time in 38 holes but he soon negated that with another scorching 40-foot eagle on the par-5 15th. <br /><br />Jha almost nailed his third eagle on the par-4 17th when he reached the green with his tee shot but the ball just rolled past the pin. He converted that into a birdie and then parred the final hole to stay well ahead of the pack.<br /><br />Although Chikkarangappa shot a respectable 69, he didn’t necessarily enjoy the best of rounds, often forced to save pars as his hitting let him down. A tenacious fighter, the 21-year-old somehow managed to scramble himself out of trouble, sinking four birdies against a lone bogey to stay in the hunt but having a lot of catch-up to do on the final day. Murthy, following a sedate opening nine where he sunk two birdies, closed out in spectacular fashion. He picked up a shot on the 10th and then hammered five straight birdies from the 14th to ensure an all-Bangalore leadergroup for the final round.<br /><br /><br /><br />Leading scores (after 54 holes, Indians unless mentioned): 197: Abhishek Jha (66, 66, 65); 203: R Murthy (71, 68, 64), S Chikkarangappa (64, 70, 69); 207: M Dharma (67, 71, 69), Niall Turner (Irl, 67, 70, 70), Deepinder Singh Khullar (67, 69, 71), Khalin Joshi (67, 69, 71), Nils Floren (Swe, 71, 62, 74); 208: N Thangaraja (Sri, 69, 72, 67), Pijit Petchkasem (65, 73, 70).<br /></p>
<p>Abhishek Jha was consistency personified as he set himself a wonderful platform to break his professional title duck at the Take Solutions Indian Masters here on Friday.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Playing, perhaps, the best golf of his career, the 27-year-old upped the ante in brilliant fashion, carding a superb third-round seven-under 65 to barge into a whopping six-shot lead at his home Eagleton Golf Resort.<br /><br />Jha’s training partner and friend S Chikkarangappa struggled to a three-under 69 to share the second spot at 203 with Karnataka Golf Association’s R Murthy, who rose through the leaderboard with a spectacular eight-under 64.<br /><br />Having missed the cut in the Eagleburg Masters held at the very same course in early October, Jha arrived into this tournament with a new-found determination on doing well and the lanky 6’5’’ youngster has backed that ambition with some superb golf.<br /><br />Just like he has done over the last two rounds, the towering but affable Jha continued to reveal a new facet of his game that his friends at Eagleton had been waiting to see for a long time. Following a slow start to the round, he began to warm up nicely, striking the ball dead-straight like a machine and holing almost all his putts as the following crowd lapped it up generously.<br /><br />After parring the opening six holes, he nailed his first birdie on the seventh hole, sinking a six-footer before going two-under for the day with a 10-foot birdie on the ninth.<br /> Having gained his confidence, he then started to drive home the advantage as his playing partners -- Nils Floren (74) and Chikkarangappa -- started to struggle with their hitting.<br /><br />On the par-5 10th he sunk a sensational 40-foot eagle, curling the beautifully from right to left as loud cheers rang out. He followed that up with a six-foot birdie on the very next hole as he stretched his lead to five shots. His momentum took a bit of a dip on the 12th as he bogeyed for the first time in 38 holes but he soon negated that with another scorching 40-foot eagle on the par-5 15th. <br /><br />Jha almost nailed his third eagle on the par-4 17th when he reached the green with his tee shot but the ball just rolled past the pin. He converted that into a birdie and then parred the final hole to stay well ahead of the pack.<br /><br />Although Chikkarangappa shot a respectable 69, he didn’t necessarily enjoy the best of rounds, often forced to save pars as his hitting let him down. A tenacious fighter, the 21-year-old somehow managed to scramble himself out of trouble, sinking four birdies against a lone bogey to stay in the hunt but having a lot of catch-up to do on the final day. Murthy, following a sedate opening nine where he sunk two birdies, closed out in spectacular fashion. He picked up a shot on the 10th and then hammered five straight birdies from the 14th to ensure an all-Bangalore leadergroup for the final round.<br /><br /><br /><br />Leading scores (after 54 holes, Indians unless mentioned): 197: Abhishek Jha (66, 66, 65); 203: R Murthy (71, 68, 64), S Chikkarangappa (64, 70, 69); 207: M Dharma (67, 71, 69), Niall Turner (Irl, 67, 70, 70), Deepinder Singh Khullar (67, 69, 71), Khalin Joshi (67, 69, 71), Nils Floren (Swe, 71, 62, 74); 208: N Thangaraja (Sri, 69, 72, 67), Pijit Petchkasem (65, 73, 70).<br /></p>
