Macau, Sep 12 (Inditop.com) Gaganjeet Bhullar overcame a stuttering start to quickly recover and rise into top-10 in the third round of the $500,000 Macau Open golf.
Bhullar shot a two-under 69 and moved to four-under 209 and was six shots behind the leader Thaworn Wiratchant, who was 10-under but with four holes still to play in the third round.
Bhullar was tied sixth, but only one player ahead of him had finished the third round. When darkness forced an early suspension of play, 15 players were yet to finish their third round.
Bhullar had two bogeys in his first four holes on the second and fourth, but the 20-year-old, who won the Indonesia Invitational recovered with back-to-back birdies on sixth and seventh and turned in even par 35.
On the back, Bhullar, parred everything from 10th to 14th. Then he birdied the 15th and the par-5 18th to finish in two-under 69, the same as his card in second round.
C. Muniyappa (71) stayed at even par after 54 holes and moved up four places from 32nd to 28th. Digvijay Singh with a second straight 70 was one-over 214 after three completed rounds.
After the second round, which finished Saturday morning, Vikrant Chopra (73, 72), Rahil Gangjee (72, 74), Anirban Lahiri (77, 71) and Himmat Rai (77, 75) missed the halfway cut.
Earlier in the morning, when the second round ended, Bhullar found himself in the 18th place at the end of the round, up from his 36th place after first round. Andrew Dodt (687 67) was leading at eight-under and Lin Wen-Hong (68, 67) and Wiratchant 67, 68) were tied for second. When play ended early Friday, Bhullar was ninth in the clubhouse.
Wiratchant stayed on course for his 11th Asian Tour title as he charged up the leaderboard to take a three-shot lead over second placed Lin Wen-hong of Chinese Taipei.
Lin is currently on seven-under-par after 14 holes while Frenchman Jean Van De Velde is a further shot back. South Africa’s Keith Horne posted a 70 to complete his round in fourth position on 208.
A storm forced a two hour-long suspension in the morning, which means 15 players will return to complete their rounds Sunday.
rounak