Jyoti Randhawa displayed near-perfect golf, carding a superb four-under 68 to grab a one-stroke lead over the rest of the field after the penultimate round in the BILT Open in Delhi on Saturday.
With a three-day aggregate of 12-under 204, Randhawa is a stroke ahead of Lam Chih Bing of Singapore, who returned the day's best five-under 67 card.
Overnight leaders S S P Chowrasia and Rahul Ganapathy carded on identical level-par 72 round to drop to joint fourth spot.
Randhawa carded a birdie on the par-five second hole after he hit his second shot, a five-wood, pin high and made two putts for birdie.
However, he dropped his only stroke of the day on the par-three third after three-putting from 20 feet. Another birdie on the par-four sixth saw him make the turn at two-under 34. Back-to-back birdies on the 10th and 11th, followed by another birdie on the par-five 15th hole resulted in a 68, giving him a one-stroke lead over second placed, Lam Chih Bing.
''I hit the ball really well and am mentally very focused. Though the course looks easy, the greens are tough to putt on and I think 16 or 17-under for the week should be good enough to win the tournament, '' said Randhawa.
Lam Chih Bing started the day with back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes to make the turn at two-under 34. He then birdied the 11th, 12th and 14th holes to get to five-under for the day. A bogey on the par-five 15th saw him drop to four-under, but he recovered the shot with birdie on the last to card a five-under 67.
Harmeet Kahlon carded a one-under-par, 71 and is at fifth place with a 54-hole total of 209, followed by Digvijay Singh and Rafael Ponce at six-under 210.
Scores: 204: Jyoti Randhawa (66, 70, 68); 205: Lam Chih Bing (70, 68, 67), 207: SSP Chowrasia (70, 65, 72), Rahul Ganapathy (66, 69, 72), 209: Harmeet Kahlon (66, 72, 71); 210: Digvijay Singh (70, 71, 69), Rafael Ponce (69, 71, 70), Chirag Kumar (69, 66, 75); 211: Amardeep Malik (73, 68, 70), Amandeep Johl (70, 68, 73), Himmat Singh Rai (68, 69, 74); 212: Harinder Gupta (69, 71, 72), Gurbaaz Mann (67, 72, 73); 213: Uttam Singh Mundy (68, 74, 71), Shiv Kapur_(75, 66, 72), Gagan Verma (67, 74, 72).
More from rediff