Mike Cunning is sight of maiden title

The perseverance could well pay off on the morrow as he leads the field by two strokes at 15-under 201 after three days in the Wills Indian Open.

Cunning, who carded a six-under 66 on the third day to place himself atop the leaderboard, smiled and said, "I don’t want to think about it (not winning on a title on APGA) and it’s a new millenium." At 15-under 201, he is two strokes ahead of the second-placed duo of Yusuf Ali and Felix Casas, who like Cunning are still seeking their first APGA title.

Meanwhile, the Indians continue to hope for a three-in-a-row at the Indian Open with Yusuf Ali, two strokes adrift, in the joint second place and Jyoti Randhawa, three behind the leader. Arjun Atwal, who had a bad day, and Vivek Bhandari are among the three in joint 12th place, six strokes behind Cunning.

Yusuf, who virtually grew up on the Royal Calcutta Golf Club course and from where his home is only a stone’s throw, added a 67 to the 70 and 66 he had on the first two days.

Casas, who logged an eagle for the third day in a row — it came on the par five 14th, as against an eagle two on the fourth in second round and on the third on the first day — had an up-and-down day. However, he did not seem unduly disappointed with his par round that placed him joint second with Yusuf, who though he has been playing pro golf since the age of 14 and from 1992 has never won a title, even at home.

The highly focussed Jyoti Randhawa for most part of the day seemed to be battling with his putter. Though he read the lines well, and later claimed that he putted better than the first two days, saw at least four to five putts stop short by a foot or so. Randhawa had just one bogey — on the eighth — and three birdies for a two-under 70, which placed him three strokes behind Cunning.

Cunning’s affair with Asia began almost two decades ago, when he first came for the Indian Open at Delhi in 1981, the year late Payne Stewart won the title. He has been here more than a few times, but has never really been able to win it. For a player, who is not a long hitter, Cunning felt his putting had been very good this week. "I have not three putted this week," said Cunning, who started with a bogey this morning.

It was only his second bogey of the week, and he picked up soon with a birdie on the third. He then went into an overdrive with birdies on the seventh, eighth and tenth, followed by more on the 14th, 15th (a 20-footer) and finally one more on the last hole. Overnight leader Casas shot a par round, but refused to be fazed as his lead vanished.

He had a double bogey on tenth where he first went into the fairway bunker and then onto the greenside bunker, where he stayed with his third shot. He messed his up and down shot and was two over by the time the troublesome ball disappeared into the hole. But he did have an eagle and two birdies to make up for the double bogey and two other bogeys to finish par.

Sharing the fourth spot with Randhawa is the 20-year-old Trevor Immelman of South Africa, who is in his first year on the pro circuit and is here on an invitation from the Indian Golf Union. He had five birdies and one bogey on his second successive card of 67 with which he is now at 12-under 204.

The day’s best came from the 30-year-old Thongchai Jaidee, who had led the star field at the Malaysian Open going into the fourth day. "I was unlucky" he says of the day on which he finished in the 20s. He shot a course record equalling seven-under 65 to be 11-under, the same as Venezuelan Gilberto Morales and South African Hendrik Buhrmann.

Jaidee had an eagle on the third where he chipped from 77 yards after a driver and three Iron brought him within sight. He had a great finish with birdies on four of the last five holes.

Atwal’s day began with a bogey-bogey start and he kept visiting the bunkers ever so often. He had three more bogeys, but he hung on tenaciously and finished well with birdies on the last two holes for a one over 73, which put him at nine-under 207. "Maybe my chances are slim, but I am not giving up," said the defending champion.

Ashok Kumar led the amateurs with a one-over card of 73 and he is now four under for three rounds. Rahil Gangjee carded a par 72 to go with his 70 and 73 on the first two days and he is now one over. The third placed amateur is Shiv Kapur (one over for three days) and behind him are Simarjeet Singh and Rahul Ganapathy at two over.