Lahiri well poised to clinch Aamby Valley title

Pune: Anirban Lahiri stood well poised to clinch the title in the Aircel PGTI Professional Golf

Championship at the Aamby Valley Golf Course near Lonavla after holding a six-stroke lead on the penultimate day of the Rs 30-lakh tournament. The Bangalore professional was two strokes off his sizzling cards of seven-under 65 on the first two days and his five-under 67 on day three left him with a total aggregate of 19-under 197. Six strokes behind the sole leader was Delhi`s Shamim Khan who shot six-under 66, the best for the day, and in third place, a further four strokes adrift, were veteran Ashok Kumar and Kunal Bhasin who returned an identical score four-under 68. Tied in fifth spot were Abhishek Jha and Rafick Ali Mollah, at eight-under 208 while three others -? Vijay Kumar, Digvijay Singh and Md Siddikur Rehman of Bangladesh were joint seventh one stroke further behind. Lahiri fired three birdies but also dropped a shot on the outward stretch of nine holes and had a slightly better return leg with three more birdies to his credit. Shamim returned the best score for the day with the help of seven birdies, undermine by a lone bogey, while Kumar`s game fluctuated as he came up with seven birdies but also tripped by dropping three strokes. Bhasin had four birdies and one bogey on the outward nine before finishing on par at all the holes on the home leg. PTI