Gaganjeet Bhullar charges up leaderboard

St Andrews (Scotland), aug 27

Gaganjeet Bhullar charged up the leaderboard to tied-third after shooting an electric 7-under 65 in the third round of the St. Andrews Bay Championship.

Bhullar is now 15-under, tied with Mito Pereira from Chile (67) and South African Jaco Ahlers (68). Turk Pettit (62) leads the field at 17-under, while Matt Jones (66) is second at 16-under. Bhullar had four birdies on the front-nine and four more in a row from the 12th to the 15th but dropped a bogey on the 16th.

Two other Indians are in the top-10. Ajeetesh Sandhu (64) moved to 14-under and is tied-sixth, while Anirban Lahiri, co-leader after the first round, shot a 67 and is tied-10th.

Among the other Indians, SSP Chawrasia (68) is T-27, Veer Ahlawat (72) is T-36, Viraj Madappa (71) is T-43, Rahil Gangjee (72) is T-49 and Rashid Khan (75) is T-65.

Bhullar, who last won a title in Indonesia a year ago, has had a low-key season so far. “It was smooth sailing. I actually got off to a really good start. I was just thinking about my whole round, I think I ended up hitting 16 greens in regulation. The first 15 were all greens in regulation, missed only one fairway today,” Bhullar said.

“You know, it was the way I drove the ball, the way I putted, I was quite proud of myself. Actually, the last few months I’ve been trying to work on my game. I’ve been trying to figure out the loose ends and I guess it was one of those rounds when everything came together,” he added.

Sandhu started the day at T-21 but went on a rampage with four birdies in the first four holes and added two more on the sixth and seventh.

A dropped shot on the eighth saw him turn in 5-under. On the back-nine, Sandhu, who is just coming back after an injury layoff, had four birdies against one bogey. His last five holes had three birdies and he returned a card of 8-under.