Randhawa magic works at last

With dusk settling in, and an unnatural quiet, you could almost hear the ball rolling on the green.

With dusk settling in, and an unnatural quiet, you could almost hear the ball rolling on the green. The large crowd raising dust and chatter all day long as it followed Jyoti Randhawa8217;s group suddenly froze 8212; every pair of eyes focussed on the ball itself.

Towards the end of the third day of the 500, 000 Asian Tour Hero Honda Indian Open, with defending champion Randhawa having opened his title charge, his putt to save par on the par-three 17th was collectively almost willed into the hole.

The same magic seemed to be back on the 18th green. Having laid up his second shot for safety, Randhawa8217;s third, targetting the pin, dropped a few feet over, back spun and rolled back towards it, to gasps from the gathering.

But those pars on the last two only kept him close to overnight leader Thai Chapchai Nirat. What brought him within sniffing distance was the stunning back nine, where the Gurgaon player had four birdies without dropping a shot. By the end, Nirat had dropped one himself and the two take on the Delhi Golf Club course on the final day on 10-under each.

Nirat blamed his one-over round today to 8220;tough pin positions8221; that forced him to 8220;play for safety8221;. The much talked about new tees were also used today, on the third and 10th holes. With players expressing the need to widen the green on the par-3 seventh before using the new position, the old one was wisely stuck to there.

Playing in the leadergroup with Randhawa and Nirat will be New Zealand8217;s Mark Brown, who had started the day in 28th place. Brown will probably want to repeat today8217;s breakfast order tomorrow; he didn8217;t keep a fraction of a step wrong today 8212; the eight-under round had six birdies, not one bogey and a last-hole eagle.

Gaurav Ghei battled yesterday8217;s indifferent form to move up to fourth, seven-under overall. Jeev Milkha Singh finally registered a sub-par score. Two-under today puts him on tied 38th.

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Randhawa, known for his third round charges, knew this was the last chance to get into contention and he rose to the challenge. Missing an eight-foot eagle putt on the first hole itself by just inches, he had come out firing. With seven-month-old son Zoravar not exactly looking on, but definitely tagging along all through, the seven birdies and two bogeys made up his card of five-under. Few more either brushed the cup or missed by a hairbreadth.

Leaderboard after Round III

206 Jyoti Randhawa IND 70-69-67, Chapchai Nirat THA

66-67-73

207 Mark Brown NZL 71-72-64

209 Gaurav Ghei IND 66-73-70

210 Lu Wen-teh TPE 68-75-67, Chang Tse-peng TPE 68-65-77, David Gleeson AUS 66-68-76

211 Gary Rusnak USA 71-67-73

212 S Sivachandran MAS 73-70-69

213 Danny Chia MAS 66-73-74, SSP Chowrasia IND 68-71-74