Meijel marches ahead of the pack

The game of uncertainties. Each day. Every day. Each round. Every shot. And the excitement of solving this puzzle, day in and day out, is what makes every golfer addicted to the sport for life.

Ask Lars van Meijel, who is leading by two shots in The Challenge following a 48th place finish last week, and he will tell you that there is no one way of surviving this maze.

"If I knew, I would love to explain. It’s hard. I just try to stay committed and trust what I’m doing and that things will fall into place,” said the 28-year-old from the Netherlands who carded a 5-under 67 on Thursday to take his three-day total to 17-under 199 at the Karnataka Golf Association.

“I guess it's about ensuring that you are working with the right people on the right things so that eventually in the long term everything is going to work out,” added the pro.

Except two black boxes (indicating bogeys), Meijel’s scorecards over three days of golf highlights red circles (indicating birdies) in plenty. But the golfer doesn’t believe in doing the math. “I have no idea really,” he asserted when asked about statistics such as number of greens in regulation or putts made per round so far.

Out of the three, his card on Thursday turned out to be the tidiest with five birdies - 1st, 3rd, 4th, 9th and 14th - and zero blemishes. He will be joined by overnight leader, England’s Alex Fitzpatrick and Switzerland’s Joel Girrbach to form the leader group that tee-off last on Friday morning.

While Fitzpatrick managed a 1-under 71 after shooting two consecutive 65s, for Girrbach, however, it was a mix of both highs and lows to make his 4-under 68 outing a bittersweet experience.

Just when the 29-year-old looked like emulating his 8-under effort on Wednesday, three bogeys on the last four holes derailed his progress from taking a sole lead.

Girrbach, who is carrying his own bag, was 7-under through 14 holes before dropping a shot each on the 15th, 17th and 18th. Perhaps having the assistance of a caddie would have saved him from erring.

On a fairly quiet day at the office, Kartik Sharma’s card of 2-under 70 meant that he remained the top Indian in the fray at tied-6th. The 22-year-old made two birdies on the 6th and the 11th holes while parring the rest of the 16 holes to claim his spot in the chasing pack on the final day. His fellow countryman, Aman Raj, added a 3-under 69 to lie tied-8th.

With the conditions at KGA being mostly golfer friendly throughout the week, the last 18 holes is sure to test not just the skills but more so the nerves. And leader Meijel said he would ‘Hit the range a little bit, chill, eat some butter chicken and go to bed,’ to prepare for one of the biggest days of his life where more surprises and uncertainties await.

Leading scores (after 54 holes, Indians unless mentioned): 199: Lars Van Meijel (NED 66, 66, 67); 201: Alex Fitzpatrick (ENG 65, 6, 71), Joel Girrbach (SWI 69, 64, 68); 202: Frederic Lacroix (FRA 67, 66, 69), Michael Hirmer (GER 64, 71, 67); 203: Kartik Sharma (66, 67, 70), Ugo Coussaud (FRA 68, 67, 68).