Randhawa soars into joint lead

Jyoti Randhawa's title defence received a shot in the arm with the steadily improving golfer firing a sizzling five-under 67 to join big-hitting Thai Chapchai Nirat atop the leaderboard after the penultimate round of the USD 500,000 Hero Honda Indian Open in New Delhi on Saturday.

Randhawa, gunning for his third title which would put him in the same bracket with five-time Open champion Peter Thomson of Australia, rode on a bogey-free back nine to join Nirat at 10-under 206 at the Delhi Golf Course.

Randhawa has been improving with every passing day and after rounds of 70, 69 and 67, the defending champion would be going for the jugular tomorrow to lift the title.

Breathing down Randhawa and Nirat's neck from one shot behind was New Zealander Mark Brown, who arrived with an altered putting grip to reel off six birdies and then sign off in style, with an eagle on the final hole for a stunning round of eight-under 64.

"On the first two days, nothing went right for me and today I holed out almost everything  it almost got to an embarrassing stage," Brown said.

Seasoned campaigner Gaurav Ghei, hunting for his maiden title here, carded two-under 70 to total seven-under 209 and finish fourth. He mixed four birdies and two bogeys in his third round.

Earlier, egged on by the presence of actor-wife Tina Singh and newborn son Zoravar, Randhawa had a perfect start to his round as he picked up a shot in the opening hole and birdied the sixth and seventh as well. In between, he dropped a shot on the fourth and another bogey on the ninth to make the turn at one-under.

Randhawa played near perfect golf in his back nine. He started with a birdie hat-trick and picked up one more shot on the 14th and then parred the next four holes to round off his day.

"I think it was my day. Coming from Europe, I was a little jet-lagged but now I'm more at home," Randhawa said.

"I wanted to be within two-three shots off the lead before going into the final round tomorrow. Instead, I'm tied for the top slot. I think that gives you a good chance tomorrow," added the European Tour regular.

Asked what would be his plan tomorrow, Randhawa said, "It will remain the same. I have to maintain my focus, play shot by shot and forget about everything else."

Nirat was little off-colour today and the Thai, who divides his time these days between golf course and a Buddhist temple where he became a monk, went one-over 73 today. After carding 66 and 67 on the first two days, Nirat's third round turned up to be an average affair with just one birdie against two bogeys, both on his back nine.

"The pin-position made it difficult for me and my putting also was a huge let down," rued the fast rising Thai star.

Meanwhile, Jeev Milkha Singh managed a mundane one-under 71 and was left to rue his putting woes again.

"Balls just did not roll. I'm trying but it's just not happening. I need to trust my putting more," he said.

Country's highest ranked golfer, Jeev languishes at tied 38th with a three-day total of one-over 217.

Two individual efforts stood out on day three and if one was Mark Brown's sensational round of 64, the other involved Uttam Singh Mundy, who created flutters with an albatross on the par-five, 545-yard 18th hole during his round of 68.

"I hit a good drive and had 262 yards to the hole. I hit a three wood which pitched on the green and started tracking towards the hole. I saw it heading towards the flag, hitting the flag stick, stay up for a couple of seconds before it dropped in," said a beaming Uttam, after hitting the third albatross of the 2007 Asian Tour season.

Leading scores after third round:

206: Jyoti Randhawa (70-69-67), Chapchai Nirat (66-67-73)

207: Mark Brown (71-72-64)

209: Gaurav Ghei (66-73-70)

210: David Gleeson (66-68-76), Chang Tse-peng (68-65-77), Lu Wen-teh (68-75-67)

211:  Gary Rusnak (71-67-73)

212: S Sivachandran (73-70-69)

213: Danny Chia (66-73-74), S S P  Chowrasia (68-71-74)

214: Keith Horne (71-70-73) Ross Bain (69-72-73) Uttam Singh Mundy (70-76-68), Mitchell Brown (74-71-69) Ashok Kumar (68-73-73), Scott Strange (72-74-68), Shamim Khan (68-69-77), Vijay Kumar (72-71-71), Mars Pucay (70-70-74), Rahil Gangjee (71-67-76), Arjun Singh (73-70-71).