Jyoti jumps ahead of the pack

However, at this level of competition, there are always some low scores. Jyoti Randhawa displayed his winning temperament today as he jumped ahead of the pack. ‘‘It was a bad round converted to a good round today,’’ said the 2002 Order of Merit winner, who carded a five-under, 67 to lead the tournament at 12-under-par.

Jyoti started the round confidently, sinking a 30-footer for eagle on the first. However, he bogeyed the fourth after he hit it over the green and missed chip and putt. He then picked up a stroke on the par-five eighth but dropped a stroke on the 11th after he hit yet another approach shot over the green. But back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th and 17th and 18th greens saw him well placed at top with his total of 204. ‘‘I played some patchy golf today but my short game saved the day,’’ he said.

Overnight leader, Adam Groom trailed by one stroke going into the final round as he carded a three-under, 69 today. With birdies on the first, second, fourth and eight holes, he made the turn at four-under for the day but failed to capitalise on this start as he played one over the back nine with a bogey on the 16th hole where he hit a wrong club off the tee that went through the fairway.

‘‘I hit the ball well, but on the back nine my putts did not drop,’’ said the Australian. Experienced golfer Mike Cunning, Zaw Moe and Rick Gibson were one stroke behind, tied for third place.

‘‘After 20 years of coming here, I might just do something on this course,’’ said the American. Birdies on the first, second, sixth and tenth holes saw him get to four-under for the day, before he dropped a stroke on the 11th hole. However, he picked up a birdie on the 14th, dropped a stroke on the 17th and picked up another stroke on the last to card a 68, one stroke better than his two opening rounds of 69.

Zaw Moe was happier with his performance today as he carded a two-under, 70, while Rick Gibson shot a 69. ‘‘I am happy with my ball striking today, but did not putt too well on the back nine,’’ said Zaw Moe, who made birdies on the second, fourth, eighth, 14th and 18th holes. However, he dropped strokes on the third, 11th and 17th holes.

Meanwhile, Rick Gibson had an uneventful back nine, carding three birdies and a bogey in the front nine and just one birdie on the back nine to shoot a 69.

Korean, Mo Joong Kyung carded a five-under, 67 and tied James Kingston – who carded a 71 today – at nine-under-par, 207. After dropping a stroke with a bogey on the par-four third, the Korean picked up strokes on the eighth, 11th 13th – holed a 12-footer for eagle on the 14th – and on the par-five 18th hole.

A further stroke behind, Arjun Atwal and Alex Rodger were tied for eighth place with identical scores of 204 and trail the leader by four strokes going into the final 18 holes. Arjun Atwal conquered the greens as he made eight birdies during his round today.

Birdies on the fourth, seventh, eight, 11th, 14th and 15th holes saw him get to six-under for the day. However, the dogleg par-four 16th hole halted his progress as he dropped three strokes after hitting his second shot into the tree on the right of the 16th fairway.

‘‘I hit my drive to the right of the tree tha splits the fairway and had to cut my second shot around the tree in front,’’ he said. However, the ball hit the tree and ricocheted into the right rough. Arjun struck his ball for the third time, attempting to hit the green but it hit something yet again and stayed in the rough. He then chipped out and eventually played his fifth shot onto the green from where he two-putted for a seven.

‘‘I am playing solid and my putting was much better than yesterday,’’ said the 2003 Malaysian Open winner, who sank all his birdie putts from within ten feet today.

Digvijay Singh, who has been in hot form all week – starting each round with birdies but dropping strokes coming in – overcame this hurdle and managed to complete what he started out doing in the third round, today. The Meerut pro started the round with four back-to-back birdies on the first, second, third and fourth holes, followed by birdies on the sixth and eighth holes, to make the turn at six-under-par.

However, the promise of yet another course record soon faded as he dropped strokes on the 12th and 14th holes, and managed to pick up just another birdies, on the 16th hole coming in to card a five-under, 67.

Three Indians are placed within the top ten positions on the leaderboard going into the final round and with just 18 holes left to decide the 2003 Indian Open champion, this could just be another Indian victory.