Vijay, Randhawa share lead
in Hero Honda Open
Vijay Kumar returned his third straight card of two-under
70 to slide into the lead alongside Jyoti Randhawa even as local lad C Muniyappa fought his way up the leaderboard with a well compiled
three-under 69 after the penultimate round in the Rs One million Hero Honda Open
South 2002.
The tournament is the second leg of the Hero Honda Golf Tour's
2002-03 season.
While Vijay Kumar and Randhawa shared the lead with an overall score of
6-under 210, Mhow's Mukesh Kumar and Kolkata's Yusuf Ali occupied the
tied-third position, one stroke behind at five-under 211.
Muniyappa was placed fifth at four-under 212 while Delhiites Ashok Kumar and
Gaurav Ghei were tied-sixth at three-under 213.
Another Delhi golfer, Arjun Singh was placed eighth at level-par 216.
A 22-year-old from Dharmapuri District in Tamil Nadu, Muniyappa stole the
show with the day's best score of three-under 69 to be in the fifth
position.
"It was a very good round. I just played my normal game. I cannot
say what will happen tomorrow but let's hope for the best," said the
unassuming golfer who shot birdies on the 4th, 7th, 13th and 17th but
bogeyed the 6th.
Lucknow-based Vijay Kumar, who has been a changed player after winning the
Indian Open 2002, had a lukewarm round by his own high standards. The
32-year old, birdied the 3rd, 4th, 11th, 13th, 14th and 16th, but was
set-back by a bogey on the 6th, a double bogey on the 7th and another bogey
on the 18th.
"The 6th and 7th holes proved disastrous. Otherwise, I would
have had a comfortable lead today," said Vijay.
Randhawa on the contrary had a better day with birdies on the 1st, 3rd, 9th,
11th and 17th and bogeys on the 10th, 15th, 16th and 18th.
Meanwhile Mukesh Kumar, who was in fourth position overnight, shot a 70 to
brace himself for a final round assault.
Gaurav Ghei, with a two-over 74, round slipped from the top position to the
seventh while the other overnight leader Yusuf Ali shot a 72 to share the
joint third spot.
Meanwhile, amateur David D Souza shot 8-over 80 to be placed 54th overall.
SCORES (after 54 holes):
Pros: 210 Vijay Kumar (70+70+70), Jyoti Randhawa (70+69+71); 211 Mukesh
Kumar (72+69+70), Yusuf Ali (72+67+72); 212 C Muniyappa (71+72+69); 213
Ashok Kumar (71+72+70), Gaurav Ghei (70+69+74); 216 Arjun Singh (74+70+72);
217 Digvijay Singh (75+72+70), Rohtas Singh (73+73+71), Rahul Ganapathy
(71+74+72).
Amateurs: 231 David D Souza (78+73+80); 248 Prem Bhatia (81+83+84);256
Sripad Renu (84+87+85): 257 Arjun Ramesh (81+85+91)
Earlier reports
Yusuf Ali sets KGA course ablaze
Randhawa in four-way lead
