Randhawa takes lead in DLF Masters

Gurgaon:

Jyoti Randhawa continued his brilliant form, blasting a three-under 69 to get past Gaganjeet Bhullar and emerge as the sole leader after the penultimate round of the DLF Masters golf tournament on Sunday.

Randhawa's total now stands at a three-day aggregate of seven-under 209, two strokes ahead of Bhullar and Shamim Khan.

Bhullar failed to held on to his lead after his consecutive even par 72, but Shamim turned in a sizzling three-under 69 to join him with a total of five-under 211.

Bhullar's three birdies on the sixth, 10th, 18th were negated by a bogey on the 13th and the 17th hole double bogey.

Arjun Singh carded two-under 70 to take his tally to three-under 213 and ended the day at the fourth place, one stroke ahead of Mukesh Kumar.

Ashok Kumar (70) is sixth at one-under 215, while Harmeet Kahlon (74) is tied eighth at two-over 218. Harendra Gupta (74) is tied 10th at three-over 219 and Rahul Ganapathy (76) is tied 19th with a total of six-over 222.

Overnight tied second, Randhawa started off on a shaky note, dropping shots on the first and fourth hole. But the Delhi golfer shrugged off the blues and fired a birdie on the sixth and eagle-birdie-birdie on the ninth, tenth, eleventh hole, while parring the rest.

"I didn't play as well as yesterday but still managed a round of three under. I think I was not focusing well at the start of my round but then seemed to get my focus back from the sixth hole onwards.

"I guess it's better to manage a bad round than fall on a good one. A two-shot lead is a good cushion heading into the final round," Randhawa said.

Bhullar, who had an ordinary day in the office rued of missing out on birdies at right moments and said it would be a difficult day on Sunday.

"I was swinging well today and saved two shots on the first two holes. But I was disappointed about missing short putts for birdie on the ninth, 14th and 15th. Otherwise it was an average day," he said.

"It's going to be tough competing against the likes of Jyoti tomorrow. While playing in the leader group there is also some pressure as you have to think twice before making any shot," he added.