Mukesh leads despite
Digvijay's brilliant 67

Digvijay Singh, twice winner on the Hero Honda Golf Tour this season, shot a superb five-under 67 but could not displace overnight leader Mukesh Kumar from the top of the leaderboard on the penultimate day of The Hindu Open, being played at the par-72 Cosmo-TNGF course, on Wednesday.

The Mhow-based Mukesh shot a three-under 69 today to aggregate 13-under 203 for the tournament, three strokes ahead of the second placed Feroz Ali of Kolkata.

Feroz was at 10-under 206 following a two-under 70 round. Ashok Kumar of Delhi was one stroke behind Feroz at nine-under 207, while Rafiq Ali was in sole fourth Digvijay's effort catapulted him to the fifth position overall from a lowly 20th.

Mukesh Kumar played a steady game and avoided all risks. After being three-under with birdies on first, second and fifth holes, he overclubbed his second shot from the fairway on the ninth and ended with a bogey after going over the green. On the back nine, the thrice Mahindra Champion Golfer of the year had a solitary birdie on on the par-3 17th.

"I am happy with the way I putted today. I am waiting to lay my hands on my first title of the season," said Mukesh, who bagged six titles last season.

Feroz started the day with a bang when he made back-to-back birdies on his first two holes. He was patchy thereafter as he made bogies on the fifth and ninth holes and added another birdie on the sixth to make the turn at one-under. On the back nine, he had a bogey on the 13th, but recovered with successive birdies on the 16th and 17th holes.

Digvijay is on a new high after annexing two of the four events - Royal Springs Open and ColorPlus Open - on the Hero Honda Golf Tour 2002-03 season thus far. After he started with a birdie, he made a three-putt bogey on the third. A birdie on the fourth was followed with a bogey from the centre of the fairway on the fifth. However, the pro from Meerut pulled up his socks thereafter and made birdies on the seventh, 10th and 11th. A bogey on the 13th was followed with birdies on the 14th and 16th before sinking a difficult 12-foot uphill birdie putt on the 17th for his final birdie of the day.

"It could have been a better round. I am not happy with my putting. But tomorrow is another day and I definitely won't mind a second title in a row," said the current Order of Merit leader.

Meanwhile, veteran Ali Sher finally found form when he shot a bogey-free round of four-under 68 which put him in the tied eighth position. The Delhi-based twice Indian Open champion fired birdies on the first, 10th, 12th and 16th. "I am getting into the groove. I am playing a good game but sadly I am not able to post good scores," said Ali Sher.

Meanwhile, in the amateur's section, CV Yudhvir cleared a card of one-under 71 to tally two-under 214 to displace overnight leader B Gurunath. He climbed to the joint eighth spot

SCORES (after 54 holes): 203 _ Mukesh Kumar (66,68,69); 206 _ Feroz Ali (67,69,70); 207 _ Ashok Kumar (70,67,70); 210 _ Rafiq Ali (69,70,71), 211 _ Digvijay Singh (70,74,67), SSP Chowrasia (68,71,72), 213 _ Indrajit Bhalotia (73,68,72); 214 _ Ali Sher (77,69,68), Rahul Ganapathy (73,69,72);

Amateurs: 214 _ CV Yudhvir (72,71,71), 221 _ B Gurunath (74,68,79); 224 _ L Selvadurai (76,72,76)

Earlier reports
Mukesh Kumar shoots
six-under 66
Mukesh Kumar maintains lead