The penultimate day of a golf tournament is popularly known as the 'moving' day'. Each player tries to move into contention. On the third day of the Rs 1.8 million Kashmir Open, being played at the outstanding Royal Springs Golf course, six players moved within two strokes of each other at the top, thus setting up an exciting final on Saturday.
In the season opening event of the Hero Honda Golf Tour, which also happens to be the first 'major' of the 2003-04 season, defending champion Digvijay Singh shot a brilliant round of five-under 67 to join India's No 1 player Mukesh Kumar and the surprise packet Pappan on top of the leaderboard at nine-under 207.
Overnight leader Arjun Singh survived a disastrous stretch of two holes and was tied for the fourth place at eight-under 208 along-side Asia's No 1 player Jyoti Randhwa.
Sri Lankan sensation Anura Rohana proved his mettle in his very first tournament on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour when he returned the day's best card at six-under 66 to move to sixth place at seven-under 209.
Harmeet Kahlon was seventh at six-under 210 while Uttam Singh Mundy was also lurking as a potential threat at five-under 211.
The day began with Arjun Singh enjoying a three-stroke lead over the field. However, it was a surprisingly wayward Arjun on the front nine as he repeatedly missed fairways off the tee. Arjun had a sudden loss of concentration and made back-to-back double bogeys on the eighth and ninth holes to hand over the lead to the popular Delhi golfer Pappan, who put the pressure with exquisite birdies on the first, sixth and seventh.
The way Pappan played, he could easily have finished six or seven under for the day. However, his only bad shot of the day, a pulled three-iron shot on the par-three 12th, went out of bounds for an ugly double bogey and a duffed pitching wedge shot on the 18th found water for a bogey. His other birdies came on the 10th, 13th and 16th holes.
"I am really happy with the way I played. I don't really care if I win the title or not. I just want to play good golf," said the 35-year old Pappan, whose previous best finish was a second place in 2002 Hindu Open at the TNGF Cosmo course in Chennai.
Meanwhile, Digvijay made his move with some brilliant short game. The 31-year-old Meerut pro made a bogey on the third but shot four bogeys and an eagle after that. The eagle came on the par-five seventh, where his four-iron second shot landed less than two-feet from the pin. He would have eagled the par-4 17th also, but is lob-wedge second shot stopped just an inch right of the pin.
"I putted the way I should putt. I also hit some great recovery shots. I am glad to be leading the tournament, which I least expected as I am going through a swing change. If I win tomorrow, it would be great, if not I won't be disappointed," said the No 2 player on the Hero Honda Golf Tour.
Mukesh struggled through the first eight holes but the momentum changed with a birdie on the ninth hole. Thereafter he drained putts of 10-15 feet range for three birdies on the back-nine.
"With so many good players bunched up together, anything can happen tomorrow. I just hope my putter does not let me down," said Mukesh, who won the title here in 2001.
"I am glad I managed to come back in contention after those double bogeys. I could have shot myself out of the competition," said Arjun Singh, who made birdies on the 10th, 16th and 17th.
Scores (after 54 holes): 207_Digvijay Singh(70,70,67), Mukesh Kumar(69,69,69), Pappan(68,70,69); 208_Jyoti Randhawa(67,71,70), Arjun Singh(67,68,73); 209_Anura Rohana(72,71,66); 210_Harmeet Kahlon(74,66,70); 211_Uttam Singh Mundy(69,70,72); 213_Vijay Kumar(71,73,69); 214_Rahul Ganapathy(71,70,73); 215_Rahil Gangjee(73,68,74).
Amateurs: 218_Girish Virk(73,71,74), Sujan Singh(71,75,76)
