Bangkok (Thailand), Oct 19 (PTI) Gaganjeet Bhullar, who won his last title 11 months ago to the day, put himself in perfect position to pick up his 12th Asian Tour win as he fired a bogey-free 66 in the third round at the Black Mountain Championship on Saturday.
Bhullar, who had 65-66 in the two previous rounds, got to 19-under for the tournament and is two shots clear of American John Catlin (65), whose earlier rounds were 69-65.
Catlin, the Order of Merit leader, was 17-under, while fellow American Michael Maguire was third at 16-under with 68-64-68.
Bhullar, who trails Thai legends Thaworn Wiratchant (18) and Thonghchai Jaidee (13) in terms of wins on the Asian Tour, has 11 wins and is also the top Indian.
The next best Indians are Jyoti Randhawa and Arjun Atwal, with eight wins each.
Bhullar had a bogey in each of his opening two rounds. In the third, he birdied four times on the front nine and twice on the back nine. Overall, he has had 21 birdies against two bogeys in three rounds.
India’s Khalin Joshi (73) was T-39th at 9-under, while Karandeep Kochhar (73) was T-65 at 5-under.
Bhullar, 36, has been dogged by a sore hip this year. His best finish so far this year has been a joint 33rd at the International Series Morocco.
After missing the last three cuts, he is currently 123rd on the Asian Tour Order of Merit.
However, the rebound appears to have begun this week, and a 12th win is a real possibility.
“It was a good round of golf, to be honest,” said the Indian star, who made six birdies and started the day sharing the lead with Suteepat Prateeptienchai from Thailand.
“I think the best part was that it was a bogey-free round. I probably hit about 17 greens in regulation, so that gave me a good opportunity to make lots and lots of birdies.
“I putted quite well today. I would say, as good as yesterday and drove the ball well; just missed two fairways. But other than that, I think it was a solid round.” He holds the course record here, a round of nine-under back in 2009, and has only dropped two shots all week.
Despite the poor weather today, which fortunately was just rain and no lighting, he has continued to dominate the course.
“Normally, it’s a thunderstorm, and we don’t play. But yeah, it was quite challenging,” he added.
“Actually, in the last few holes, I had to change my strategy off the tee because I was just not comfortable hitting driver on all the holes. On number 16, I had to hit a three wood, and on the 17th, I had to hit a four iron.” Chinese Taipei’s Lee Chieh-po (64) was tied fourth with David Boriboonsub of Thailand, who shot 67 and were both 15-under.
Overnight co-leader Suteepat Prateeptienchai of Thailand slipped to tied sixth after a round of 71 at the low-scoring course. He shared the sixth place with Italian Stefano Mazzoli (70) at 14-under. PTI Corr AYG AM AYG AM AM
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