Kahlon in joint-lead at Thailand

Indians continued to hog the limelight after the penultimate round of the USD 500,000 39th Thailand Open, with Harmeet Kahlon firing a five-under 67 to tie for the lead with Australian Scott Barr at the par-72, Blue Canyon Country Club at Phuket on Saturday.  The leaders tallied nine-under 207.

Jeev Milkha Singh, was tied third one stroke behind the leaders, with the Phillippine's Angelo Que and Australian Scott Strange at a tally of 208. Jeev fired a two-over 74 on Saturday.

Overnight fourth-placed Shiv Kapur slipped to tied-13th place after a third round 76.  Kapur's tally stood at 214.

Harmeet Kahlon is known for his hard work ethics and attention for detail. It is a perfect amalgamation of these two qualities that helped propel the 34-year old into the joint-lead. The persistent Kahlon fired rounds of 70 each on the first two days but stepped on the gas just when he needed.

The India Cements-sponsored golfer went on the offensive from the word go, a ploy which yielded him birdies on the second, fourth, seventh and ninth, with a lone bogey on the eighth placing him at three-under at the turn. On his back-nine, the winner of the Hero Honda Masters 2002, birdied the 11th, 12th and 15th and would have assumed the sole lead but for a bogey on the 16th.

Jeev had a bad start with a bogey on his opening hole, but made up with birdies on the fourth, sixth and ninth.  His return journey was nightmarish with bogeys on the 11th, 14th, 17th and a double bogey finish to his round, totaled to a lone birdie on the 12th, handing him a card of 74.

Scores (after 54 holes): 207 Harmeet Kahlon(70,70,67), Scott Barr(65,68,74); 208 Angelo Que(71,70,67), Jeev Milkha Singh(65,69,74), Scott Strange(68,67,73); 209 Richard Lee(70,70,69); 210 Mike Capone(71,69,70); 212 Prayad Marksaeng(72,70,70), Bryan Saltus(70,72,70); 213 Larry Austin(72,69,72), Gerry Norquist(69,72,72), Chris Rodgers(70,70,73).