Three-way tie to decide winner

Pune, Jan 25 (UNI) A three-way tie between Jasjeet Singh, Gagan Verma and Anirban Lahiri ensured that the winner of the Royal Challenge (RC) Pune Open Amateur golf championship could be anyone who could hold their nerves.

The par-71 Poona Club golf course was probably the place to be as overnight leader Jasjeet for once seemed to feel the heat from Verma who Lahiri described, ''putted like a king,'' and Lahiri who staged a brilliant comeback.

After three rounds the Noida, Delhi, Bangalore trio finished with identical 10-under 203 scores, though the day's honours undoubtedly belonged to Lahiri who amongst the three had the best card, a four-under 66.

Amidst the thought of a fitting finale, 25-year-old Moin Malak, who recently shifted base to Pune from Nagpur, submitted what was the best card of the tournament. In a never-before performance, Malak who had been three years on the circuit and has never shot beyond two-under handed in a six-under 65 card.

The par-4 third was where Malak kick started his good run. Finding the threes on the left, he had to lay-up which he did to be placed seven feet to the pin. Sinking a difficult side-hill putt gave him confidence.

For Jasjeet, who till yesterday had just two bogeys, it was a not-so-convincing day as his good work was undone when he dropped a shot each on the 3 rd, 8th, 10th and 11th.

However, the good part of his round was the fact that he managed to birdie the par-3 2nd to ensure he did not log a hat-trick on that particular hole.

Jasjeet's two-under 69 not only enabled Verma wipe off the one stroke deficiet he carried into Day Three, but also helped Lahiri who among the three was having a good time on the course. Having failed to get through the back-nine without dropping a shot in his two rounds so far, Verma was three-under 32 at the turn off.

However, on his journey back home two bogey's (11 th and 18th) undid the birdies he had on the par-4 10th and 14th, respectively.

Lahiri himself was in sound form, though he did worry about being weak in the scoring areas of his game.

With a brilliant long game, Lahiri virtually 'killed' the course and made up for his rather average 'on green' exploits. Three eagles on the 7 th, 12th and 14th was definitely the stat of the day, which Lahiri admitted ''was a nice feeling,'' before revealing that he has had a couple of instances when he shot four eagles in a single round.

Lahiri like yesterday had variety on his card, which included four bogeys, which technically nullified the eagles into birdies and three birdies. On his chances tomorrow, Lahiri said ''I am happy that I am not going into the final round with a deficit.'' While the Top-3 have every reason to fight down the wire, tomorrow would be interesting to see if Lahiri could make it two-in-a-row includes the win he had in Faldo Series India at the PGC or Jasjeet repeat his 2004 victory or Verma pick up his first win of the tour.

SCORES (after 54 holes; par-213) 203-Jasjeet Singh (67, 67, 69), Gagan Verma (67, 68, 68), Anirban Lahiri (67, 70, 66); 209-Moin Malak (73, 71, 65); 210-Shaurya Singh (71, 69, 70); 212-S Bahuguna (68, 72, 72); 214-Joseph Chakola (72, 74, 68); 215-Raj Randhawa (70, 72, 73); 216-Vikram Rana (70, 73, 73), Balpreet Ghuman (73, 71, 72); 217-HS Kang (70, 70, 77); 219-L Selvadurai (75, 72, 72), Tarun Ghogle (74, 74, 71); 221-Balwindr Mattu (75, 74, 72).

UNI