Kunal Bhasin & Manav Jaini finish on top after round three

Gurgaon, June 7, 2012: Kunal Bhasin of Australia and Delhi’s Manav Jaini hold the joint lead after round three of the PGTI Players Championship being played at the Golden Greens Golf & Country Club in Gurgaon. The two golfers are tied at the top of the leaderboard with identical totals of 10-under-206. Abhinav Lohan of Faridabad is placed third at nine-under-207.

Kunal Bhasin (67-72-67), who was overnight tied sixth, made his move up the leaderboard with birdies on the second and eighth that came as a result of a couple of brilliant approach shots. A misdirected tee-shot led to a double-bogey for Bhasin on the ninth. The 33-year-old Mumbai-based professional then had a fantastic run of five birdies on the back-nine thanks to his superb putting.

Kunal sank birdie putts from a range of 18 to 20 feet on the 11th and 16th respectively and converted a 10-footer for birdie on the 13th. Bhasin narrowly missed out on sinking an 18-feet eagle putt on the 14th. He chipped it within a foot of the pin for birdie on the 18th to end up with a five-under-67 on day three.

Kunal, a winner on the PGTI in 2009, said, “My iron-play was good on the front-nine while putting was outstanding on the back-nine. The putter had gone cold in the second round but now it’s back in business. I don’t have a score in mind for the final round but I’ll try to give myself as many birdie chances as possible.”

Manav Jaini (68-67-71) fired a solid one-under-71 on Thursday to stay in the hunt for the title. Jaini knocked down a 30-feet putt for birdie on the eighth. He then picked up another stroke on the 16th where his second shot from 145 yards landed just eight feet from the flag. Manav, who didn’t putt as well as he did in round two, bogeyed the 17th to end the day with a 71.

Abhinav Lohan (70-68-69) posted a 69 to be placed third at nine-under-207. Lohan’s third round featured four birdies and a bogey.

Shamim Khan of Delhi and Chandigarh’s Ranjit Singh are in tied fourth at eight-under-208.

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