DGC Open, Golf: Rashid Khan displaces Chikkarangappa to take the lead on Day 3

After an early penalty drop and a double-bogey, Rashid birdied the second, fourth, fifth and seventh holes to put the pressure back on Chikkarangappa.

New leader Rashid Khan (in the foreground) drives from the 16th tee, watched by dethorned leader S. Chikkarangappa (left), during the third round. | Photo Credit: Asian Tour

Following contrasting performances on Saturday, new front-runner Rashid Khan dethroned leader S. Chikkarangappa and gate-crasher Honey Baisoya kept alive prospects of a home-grown champion at the $750,000 DGC Open on Sunday.

Rashid started with a double-bogey to trail Chikkarangappa by five shots but ended the day three shots ahead after a four-under 68 kept him at 11-under 205.

On a day when play was interrupted and suspended briefly due to inclement weather, Rashid twice found the bushes on the opening hole. After taking a penalty drop, Rashid missed a bogey-putt from under five feet on the par-5 hole. But thereafter, Rashid did not put a foot wrong.

He birdied the second, fourth, fifth and seventh holes to put the pressure back on Chikkarangappa who dropped a shot on the third and held par right through the front-nine. At the turn, the players were level at nine-under where they were temporarily joined by Nirat Chapchai but the Thai soon lost his way on the back-nine.

Rashid moved into the lead at 10-under on the 11th hole, doubled his lead on the 14th hole and enlarged it to three strokes when a luckless Chikkarangappa bogeyed the 15th. Having recovered well to save some pars, Rashid played to par on the last four holes.

A startling fact was, Chikkarangappa remained birdie-less even after reaching 14 greens in regulation. In contrast, Baisoya fired seven birdies after hitting all 18 greens in regulation.

After three birdies on the front-nine, Baisoya found four more for a bogey-free 65 - the day’s best.

Chapchai had a mixed round. After a flawless 32 on the opening nine holes, Chapchai had a double-bogey, three bogeys and two birdies for a back-nine 39.

Scores

Third round: 205 - Rashid Khan (67, 70, 68); 208 - S. Chikkarangappa (68, 66, 74); 210 - Honey Baisoya (71, 74, 65), Chapchai Nirat (Tha) (68, 71, 71), Om Prakash Chouhan (69, 68, 73); 211 - Miguel Tabuena (Phi) (68, 71, 72), Justin Quiban (Phi) (67, 71, 73) and Matt Killen (Eng) (68, 69, 74).

Other Indians: 213 - S. S. P. Chawrasia (72, 70, 71), Gaganjit Bhullar (74, 71, 68); 214 - Yashas Chandra (72, 72, 70), Karandeep Kochhar (71, 69, 74); 215 - Shamim Khan (72, 70, 73), Shaurya Bhattacharya (A) (71, 75, 69); 217 - Karan Pratap Singh (75, 68, 74); 218 - Sachin Baisoya (71, 72, 75), Harshjeet Singh Sethia (74, 72, 72); 219 - Ranjit Singh (70, 75, 74), Jyoti Randhawa (73, 69, 77); 220 - Shiv Kapur (75, 69, 76), Angad Cheema (72, 73, 75); Veer Ahlawat (72, 73, 75); 221 - Manav Jaini (65, 75, 81).