It took a final-hole birdie to see Rahil Gangjee stay atop the leaderboard though his lead stood sliced to one-stroke after three rounds of the $300,000 Panasonic Open at the Delhi Golf Club course here on Saturday.
With the quartet comprising 18-year-old Shubhankar Sharma, defending champion Australia’s Wade Ormsby, Bangladesh’s Siddikur Rahman and Sri Lanka’s Mithun Perera breathing down Gangjee’s neck, it is anybody’s title on Sunday evening.
Gangjee, starting the day two strokes ahead, did lose the cushion at times to share the lead but stayed in control. The card of one-under 71, including three birdies and two bogeys, did not please him.
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“I didn’t hit the shots and that’s what I didn’t like about the entire day. Overall, I hung in there today so tomorrow will be a lot better,” he said.
Shubhankar, who fired a 68 dotted with three birdies on the bogey-free back-nine, was the surprise packet of the day.
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“After my first round of 73, my caddie told me to aim for 19 birdies in the next three rounds if I wanted to win. I made seven birdies in round two and followed that with six today, so I guess now I need another six in the final round (to win). I’ll treat the final round like just another round at a tournament and not get overawed by the situation,” said the youngster.
The scores (Indians unless stated): Rahil Gangjee (66, 68, 71) 205, Shubhankar Sharma (73, 65, 68), Siddikur Rahman (Ban) (70, 67, 69), Mithun Perera (Sri) (70, 67, 69), Wade Ormsby (Aus) (68, 68, 70) 206; Panuphol Pittayarat (Tha) (70, 68, 69) 207; Unho Park (Aus) (69,71, 68), Lionel Weber (Fra) (73, 66, 69), Pratap Atwal (A) (69, 68, 71) 208; Rashid Khan (68, 70, 71) 209.