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
First Published: Thursday, May 13, 2010, 23:23