City’s Ajeetesh maintains lead at Delhi Golf Club

Chandigarh’s Ajeetesh Sandhu, the overnight leader by three shots, maintained his dominance in round three after he fired a steady 3-under 69 to stay ahead by two shots in the Vishwa Samudra Open 2024, at the Delhi Golf Club (DGC). The Chandigarh golfer’s 54-hole total read 11-under 205.

Bangladesh’s Jamal Hossain carded the day’s best score of 67 to rise one spot to second place at nine-under 207. It was like a two-horse race between Sandhu (69-67-69) and Hossain (67-73-67) heading into the fourth and final round as there was daylight between the top two and the rest of the field. M Dharma (71) of Bengaluru was a distant third at 4-under 212, while Chandigarh’s Yuvraj Sandhu (71) and Delhi’s Rashid Khan (72) were tied fourth at 3-under 213.

International winner Sandhu began the day on a positive note with a birdie on the second but then had some anxious moments with bogeys on the eighth and ninth. After finding the bushes and having an unplayable ball on the ninth, he recovered well by making a tricky 10-ft conversion there to salvage a bogey when it could’ve been worse for him. This was followed by an 8-ft birdie conversion on the 10th that proved to be the beginning of his comeback. He capitalised on the remaining two par-5s, the 14th and 18th, with birdies and scored a birdie with a short-range conversion on the 15th.