As anticipated on the Delhi Golf Club, the primary couple of pages of the leaderboard had been inundated with Indian names. But all of them had been chasing an unheralded Thai going into the ultimate spherical of the DGC Open.
Coming into the occasion, not many would have heard of Nitithorn Thippong, and with good purpose. The 25-year-old had by no means led an Asian Tour occasion earlier than coming to Delhi, however a two-under par 70 on Saturday took the golfer from Bangkok to an eight-under combination and a two-shot lead over India’s Ajeetesh Sandhu on the Lodhi Course.
Not that Thippong was the one one from his nation in rivalry. Settee Prakongvech’s 70 was sufficient to place him in sole possession of third spot, an additional shot again, on a day when dropped photographs had been extra frequent than birdies and eagles with solely 11 gamers breaking par.
If one goes by pedigree and previous document, Gaganjeet Bhullar (fourth at four-under) has to fancy his probabilities. Nine wins on the Asian Tour (essentially the most by an Indian) and native information ought to rely for one thing.
Thippong didn’t have the whole lot going his means, and needed to grind out a good spherical. “I just focus on my process, just play, and have fun. I didn’t hit many greens today, but I made a lot of great up and downs, I think I made almost all my up and downs,” he mirrored.
Sandhu went backwards in relation to par with a spherical of one-over 73, and it was an eagle on the par-five 14th gap that gave him the possibility to be within the closing group, sandwiched between the 2 Thais.
The winner of the 2017 Yeangder Tournament Players Championship fought by way of the day to remain within the working.
“A difficult day. The wind was off, the course was firm. It was a very good test out there today,” the 33-year-old from Chandigarh mentioned. “I hung in there today, didn’t really have my best day. Off the tee, with the irons, and with the putter, everything was kind of average. But I’m glad I’m still up there and I’ll have a shot to win tomorrow, so that means a lot.”
Veer Ahlawat, the chief on the midway mark, had a disappointing day with a 78, however solely 5 photographs behind Thippong.
Bhullar was in an upbeat temper after ending his third spherical with a birdie. “The last four to five holes were playing really tough and the moment you missed the green there, making an up and down was not easy. I’m glad I finished the round with a birdie on the 18th,” he mentioned. “On such days, it’s very important to gauge the conditions early on in the round. I’ve played in worse conditions in Europe so I used that experience today. I kept telling myself that no one is going to hit low scores, so just keep making fairways and greens and keep making the up-and- downs.” Prakongvech was one of many uncommon gamers to interrupt par on the day. A spherical of two-under 70 could not appear eye-catching on low-scoring days, however on Saturday it was sufficient for him to leap proper into rivalry.
“The wind was very strong today and it was always changing, it was difficult,” he mentioned. “In my starting holes, I hit very good tee shots, good second shots, good putts, so everything came together. But in the middle, I missed some key shots, some holes I missed and chipped out. The greens were a bit faster today and a bit hard. And also, the pin positions were difficult. I didn’t expect too much today, but no one played well.”
At an combination of one-over, SSP Chawrasia could appear out of the reckoning however the Kolkata professional made the perfect of the robust circumstances in a spherical of three-under 69.“I was actually at 4-under but bogeyed my last hole. But anyway, three-under is a good round today. It was very windy today and it was playing really tough. The redesigned greens are playing the toughest. They put up a very tough setup. Not easily accessible,” Chawrasia mentioned.
