Randhawa surges into joint lead at Indian Open

Chapchai, 24, rated highly after winning this year’s joint sanctioned TCL Classic in China, shot a one-over 73 to total 10-under 206.

New Zealand’s Mark Brown raced to third from 28th on the leaderboard after a stunning eight-under 64 and was one shot behind the leading pair.

India’s Gaurav Ghei was fourth on seven-under 209 with Taiwan’s Lu Wen-teh, overnight joint leader Chang Tse-peng (77) and Australia’s David Gleeson (76) a further shot adrift.

“It took me one or two days to settle down,” Randhawa, who is eyeing his third title at the national open, told reporters. “Maybe it was jet-lag, my mind wasn’t too sharp coming from Europe but today I was fresh.”

Randhawa, who has six top-10 finishes on the European Tour this season including second at the Spanish Open, said the coarser greens at the Delhi Golf Club took time to get used to.

Chapchai, who dropped two shots on the 13th and 16th holes, was braced for the Sunday crowd cheering on local favourite Randhawa.

“I feel a little pressure having led throughout but I’ve regained my form this week,” he said. “I’m very excited to play with Jyoti but there will be a lot of spectators tomorrow and it might be difficult for me.”

Brown was bemused after reeling off six birdies and then signing off with an eagle on the par-five 18th hole.

“It was kind of weird,” he said. “The first two days I was struggling on the greens and didn’t make anything and I came out today and almost holed out everything (so) that it almost got to an embarrassing stage.”