Golf :Rashid Khan’s in contention at CGCC International Championship

By Harpal Singh Bedi

Sep 14, 2019

Nuh, Haryana:  Two-time Asian Tour winner Rashid Khan carded a second straight six-under-66 to stay in contention but the tenacious Indonesian Rory Hie carded birdie on the final hole and that enabled him to stay atop of the leaderboard after the third round at the $300,000 Classic Golf & Country Club International Championship here on Saturday

The 28-year-old Rashid, who won both his Asian Tour titles in 2014, gained one spot from round two to be placed second at 16-under-200 . He trails Rory Hie by one shot.

Completing the top five were Chandigarh golfers Abhijit Chadha, placed third on 15-under 201 (68-65-68) and Asian Tour rookie Aadil Bedi in fifth along with Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto on 12-under 204. Between them in sole fourth place is Byungjun Kim of South Korea on 14-under 202.

Thailand’s Suttijet Kooratnapisan had the round of the tournament, a 9-under par 63 that is one shy of the all-time mark of 10-under 62 at this course that his countryman Chapchai Nirat achieved en route to an Asian Tour record-setting tournament total of 32-under par 256 at the 2009 SAIL Open.

Chadha returned an error-free 68 on Saturday but slipped one position to third place at 15-under-201. Rookie Aadil Bedi (69) ended the penultimate round as the third Indian in the top-5. The teenager was tied fifth at 12-under-204.

Rashid (68-66-66), two off the pace at the halfway stage, produced some good iron shots to collect birdies on the seventh, ninth and 10th. He conceded his first bogey of the tournament after 46 holes when he dropped a stroke on the 11th where he had trouble with club selection.

The Delhi based golfer , who previously won a TATA Steel PGTI event at the CG&CC in 2013, then rallied with four birdies on the 12th, 15th, 16th and 18th. He drove the green on the par-4 12th, chipped-in on the 15th, sank a 15-footer on the 16th and finally made a terrific up and down on the 18th.

Looking to regain his Asian Tour card after losing it this year, Rashid said “Today’s round was pretty good. I had a slow start, hit the ball well and hit some good putts, but they just didn’t roll in.

“I made a good comeback after the bogey on the 11th when I drove the green on the next hole and two-putted for birdie.. “I’m enjoying myself out on the course this week. I’m consistently hitting the fairways and finding the greens. I’ve also been scrambling well. You need all of those things to put up scores of 5 to 6-under.” Rashid said

“Today the conditions were fine, especially the weather. There wasn’t much sun today so that definitely helped.“I’m not thinking about anything for tomorrow. I’ll only start thinking ahead when I’m on the last nine holes.”

Chadha (68-65-68), playing at his happy hunting ground, kept himself in the race for a maiden Asian Tour title with a solid 68.

The 28-year-old Chandigarh based golfer , who along with Rashid Khan was part of the Indian team that won silver medal at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, had a hot start on Saturday as he drained three birdies on his first four holes. He recovered well from the rough and then knocked in a 25-footer to extract a birdie on the fourth.

Thereafter, Chadha’s putter went cold as his putts stopped rolling in and he had a few lip-outs. He only managed to add one more birdie on the 12th.

“I played really well actually for a bogey free four-under. I didn’t make too many mistakes today. I just got a little unlucky with some of my putts as I had three or four lip-outs which could have easily gone in.”said Chadha.

“I started off well and was doing the right things and kept hitting the fairways. Later on as well, I was doing the same things and hitting it close but just that the putts weren’t going in. I’m playing well and am very positive going into the final round.” he added

Aadil Bedi (67-68-69) moved up one spot to tied fifth after shooting a round that featured four birdies and a bogey. The 18-year-old Aadil, the best Indian finisher in tied ninth at the Asian Tour Q School earlier this year, will be another leading Indian contender come the final day.

Overall, it was a good day for home golfers with nine of them in the top 20. Aman Raj, third overnight was level par for the day and tied eighth overall on 10-under 206 along with three others; Himmat Rai and Abhinav Lohan were joint 12th; while Viraj Madappa, Sudhir Sharma and Chikkarangappa S. helped complete the top 20 on 8-under par 208s.

–India News Stream