Paul a cut above rest, Ahlawat T-4
Gurugram, February 25
Veer Ahlawat struck a sparkling 4-under 68 to emerge as the best-placed Indian at tied-fourth, while Germany’s Yannik Paul survived a rocky start to card a 1-under 71 and hold on to a one-shot lead at the Hero Indian Open here today.
On the third day of the $2 million tournament, Ahlawat (73, 70, 68) climbed 15 spots to be in a three-way tie with Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen (73, 72, 66) and Spain’s Jorge Campillo (73, 71, 67) at 5-under at the tricky DLF Golf Course here.
The 26-year-old, who won the Pune Open and had a joint runner-up finish at the season-ending TATA Steel Tour Championship last year, was six shots adrift of Paul and five behind German Marcel Siem (67). Two shots behind Siem was Dutch golfer Joost Luiten (70, 70, 68).
Ahlawat, who had five birdies in his first 10 holes and one bogey and no birdies in the remaining eight, hopes to stick to his form.
“I had a really solid start, I was 4-under after eight holes. I got to 5-under but then I dropped a shot on hole 14, but overall, it was a good, solid striking performance,” he said. “I just feel I’m more mature now. I’ve played this course a lot more and I’m striking the ball better than last time. I’m just going to try and take it shot by shot and try not to worry about what the outcome is going to be.”
Honey Baisoya (66, 74, 73) and Angad Cheema (68, 71, 73) carded a 73 to keep themselves inside the top-10.
Two-time DP World Tour winner Shubhankar Sharma (68, 74, 74), Manu Gandas (70, 73, 73), Gaganjeet Bhullar (75, 73, 68) and Sachin Baisoya (75, 69, 72) shared the 28th spot at even par.
