Flawless Mukesh Kumar grabs lead

Kolkata: Veteran Mukesh Kumar fired a flawless four-under 66 to open up a three-stroke lead over

Manav Jaini after the penultimate round of the Aircel-PGTI Players Championship here on Thursday. After rounds of 65, 69, 66 Mukesh now has a 54-hole aggregate of 10-under 200 with Manav Jaini, who carded 69 today, trailing him from three strokes behind. Mukesh hit four birdies in his bogey-free round but missed two potential eagles as well. "I hit it really well and took advantage of all the three par five holes, making birdies on each one of them. The key to my good score was hitting all the fairways and making 16 regulations," he later said. Manav drained five birdies today as against the four bogeys he dropped to slip down the leaderboard. "It was an up and down round today. My good shots today landed in the wrong places, just the opposite of what happened in round two," he later rued. Anthony Choat of Australia, Kolkata`s Raju Ali Mollah and Mhow-based Om Prakash Chouhan are tied third at five-under 205. Digvijay Singh is a further stroke behind in sixth place. Shiv Prakash and Kolkata`s Feroz Ali Mollah share seventh place at three under 207. PTI