Birthday boy Khalin fires 7-under, jumps to 2nd place

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 11

Khalin Joshi produced a flawless 7-under 64 on his 26th birthday today to rise to the tied second position on the third day of the TAKE Solutions Masters at the KGA golf course in Bengaluru.

Playing at his home course, Joshi (67-69-64) totalled 13-under 200 after the penultimate round and trailed leader Miguel Carballo (67) of Argentina by one shot. 

Bengaluru-based Joshi shared second place with Thailand’s Danthai Boonma (72), who was the overnight leader by five shots.

There was a strong Indian presence in the top-10 with young guns Viraj Madappa and Chikkarangappa tied for fourth at 12-under 201 and the seasoned SSP Chawrasia in tied sixth place at 11-under 202 along with Delhi’s Honey Baisoya.

Joshi, who is still searching for his first win on the Asian Tour,  had seven birdies and hit a purple patch in the middle of the round, when he birdied four in a row from 9th to the 12th. He missed just one fairway and two greens but had no bogeys. “I played really well today. What’s more important is that I played bogey free. I think I’m in a good position for tomorrow, so I’m really excited,” said Joshi, who had finished runner-up at the inaugural edition of the tournament last year. 

“Shubhankar and I spoke about it and he said you shoot 20-under. I spoke to my caddie as well and he said you shoot 20-under and you’ll win! For me it was always a goal to shoot 20-under this week,” added Joshi, who climbed six spots from his overnight tied eighth.

There were six more Indians between tied-11th and tied-15th. Om Prakash Chouhan (67) was tied-11th, while 19-year-old Chandigarh golfer Karandeep Kochhar (67) was tied-14th. Veer Ahlawat (69), M Dharma (65), Aman Raj (69) and Sunit Chawrasia (69), nephew of SSP Chawrasia, were all tied-15th. Asian Games-bound Aadil Bedi produced a card to 2-under 69 to jump six places to tied-25th spot.