A past winner at the Tollygunge Club, Many Gandas was at his best at the Kolkata venue to mive into the shared lead in the DP World Players Championship on Thursday. Image courtesy DP World PGTI.
By Rahul Banerji
Manu Gandas made the most of Moving Day to take a share of the 54-hole lead alongside overnight topper Shaurya Bharr]ttacharya at the DP World Players Championship in Kolkata on Thursday.
Gandas fired a 6 under par 64 in round three to join Bhattacharya (73) on top of the leaderboard at the Rs 1.5 crore event powered by Urbana at the hoary Tollygunge Club, the DP World PGTI said.
Former DP World PGTI Order of Merit champion Gandas (66-69-64), tied for seventh overnight nine shots off the lead, put together an eagle, five birdies and a bogey on Thursday to total 11 under 199.
Bhattacharya (64-62-73), the halfway leader by four shots, was not at his best on the day as his two birdies and five bogeys saw hand back the advantage to the chasing pack.
Past Order of Merit champion Om Prakash Chouhan (64), Akshay Sharma (64) and Sanjeev Kumar (67) were all tied for third on 10 under 200.
Gandas, a past winner on the Tollygunge Club course, was slow off the blocks with his first birdie coming on the Par-3 eighth courtesy a terrific tee shot.
He then went on a roll as he followed up with another birdie on the ninth and a 17-foot eagle conversion on 10.
Quick rally
Gandas’s bogey on 12 was quickly overcome as he rallied with three birdies thereafter which included a chip-in on 14 and an 18-foot conversion on 15.
“My striking off the tees stood out today and so did my approach shots,” Gandas said.
“I created a lot of opportunities for myself. I would say that I have not been in the groove so far this season but I’m slowly getting there.
“Also, I like playing at Tollygunge and I have some good memories of my victory here back in 2024. That is something I will draw inspiration from in the final round.”
Bhattacharya, the leader in the first two rounds, had an off day on Thursday as he missed a number of chip-putts.
“My club selection and decision-making was not correct today. The consistency wasn’t there. I will now look to restart and try to replicate what I did in the first two rounds.”
The Kolkata duo of Mohammad Sanju and Divyanshu Bajaj were tied for 36th place on 1 under 209.
Also read: Bhattacharya extends Tolly lead with tournament low round
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