Chachoengsao (Thailand), Nov 9
India’s SSP Chawrasia made a fine charge towards the end of the third round with three birdies in a four-hole run, taking a share of the lead at the Thailand Open here today.
Chawrasia, who last played at the Thai Country Club in 2007, shot 3-under 68 to get to 10-under and join his playing partner, Andrew Martin (68).
The golfer, who is skipping next week’s Panasonic Open India to play in the European Tour Qualifying School, needs to get inside Top-60 on Asian Tour’s Habitat for Humanity Standings to retain his Asian Tour card. He is 64th as of now.
Among other Indians, Ajeetesh Sandhu, playing with Chawrasia, had a rough round with five bogeys between third and eighth and finished with 2-over 73 with three birdies on the back nine.
At 5-under for the tournament he is tied-11th alongside Shiv Kapur (71), who had two birdies in the first three holes. Jyoti Randhawa, whose last Asian Tour win came at this very event in 2009, shot 4-under 67 to move up to tied-26th. Interestingly, that year at the Thai Open, Chawrasia was tied-4th.
Chawrasia, smiling as always, said, “It’s been 12 long years since I last played here at the Thai Country Club. The course still feels similar to back then except that the trees have grown much taller. It was nice to be back here and be in a share of the lead heading into the final round. Felt nice to shoot three birdies in the last five holes. I missed a couple of putts on the front nine but it got better on the back, even though it was windy. This is my last year of winner’s exemption on the Asian Tour so a good result tomorrow will help a lot.” Chawrasia is a six-time winner on Asian Tour and four of those victories were in events co-sanctioned with the European Tour, and his last win was the 2017 Hero Indian Open, which was co-sanctioned. His exemption runs out at the end of this year.
Overnight co-leader amateur Natthaphat Harnchokchaiskul (70) dropped to third at 9-under, while the other second round co-leader Poom Pattaropong (75) slipped to tied-17th.
Shubhankar T-17 in Turkey
Antalya (Turkey): Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma battled his way to a 1-under 71 to lie tied-17th after a roller-coaster third round at the Turkish Airlines Open here today.
After dropping five in three in the third round, Sharma waged a hard battle with five birdies in six holes to reach 10-under. The 23-year-old Indian first moved backwards — at one stage after seven he was down in the 40s — and then clawed his way back on a day when the pin positions were really tough.
Sharma needs more gains on Sunday to get a spot in next week’s Nedbank Challenge. Sharma’s recovery came in the stretch from eighth to 13th during which he made five birdies. He forced his way into red numbers at 1-under but still dropped from overnight T-11 to tied-17th. Overall he had seven birdies, two doubles and two bogeys.
Englishman Matthias Schwab landed an eagle for the third day in a row and had six other birdies. He could even afford a double-bogey on the par-4 12th and still open up a three-shot lead over a bunch of five players led by Benjamin Hebert (64)), Tyrell Hatton (65), Patrick Reed (65), Robert MacIntyre (67) and Ross Fisher (68). — PTI
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