Kochhar fires 69 to take two-shot lead

Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar took a two-shot lead over the chasing pack with at 11-under-205 in round three of the Bengaluru Open Golf Championship at the Karnataka Golf Association course.

The 20-year-old Kochhar, who was lying one shot off the lead in tied fourth at the halfway mark, produced a steady three-under-69 on Thursday to emerge as the prime contender for the title in the Rs 40 lakh event which is also the penultimate leg of the 2019 TATA Steel PGTI season.

Bengaluru-based Rahil Gangjee (71) and Faridabad-based Abhinav Lohan (70) were in tied second place at nine-under-207.

Karandeep Kochhar (67-69-69), still looking for a maiden title as a pro, began well with long birdie conversions on the second and fifth despite being in trouble with his tee shots on both holes. An error in club selection on the sixth saw Karandeep find the water and drop his first bogey of the day.

Kochhar then landed it close to pick up two more birdies on the eighth and 12th. However, those two birdies were negated by Karandeep’s two following birdies on the 13th and 15th, the former coming as a result of a three-putt.

Top scores: 205: Karandeep Kochhar (67, 69, 69); 207: Abhinav Lohan (70, 67, 70), Rahil Gangjee (68, 68, 71); 208: Sanjeev Kumar (72, 69, 67), Sudhir Sharma (70, 65, 73), Trishul Chinnappa (70, 65, 73).