Gurugram, Sep 29 (SocialNews.XYZ) Ahmedabad's Varun Parikh shot the day's best score of five-under 67 to join Gurugram's Kartik Sharma in the lead after round three of the Grant Thornton Invitational 2022 golf tournament here on Thursday.
Kartik shot an even-par 72 and shared the lead with Varun at six-under 210 at the DLF Golf & Country Club.
Bengaluru golfer Syed Saqib Ahmed (71) was third at four-under 212 while Manu Gandas (73), another Gurugram-based professional, occupied the fourth place at three-under 213.
Varun Parikh (73-70-67), the winner of the PGTI Qualifying School this year, jumped up seven spots from his overnight tied the eighth position as a result of his 67 that featured six birdies and a bogey. After a slow start with a bogey on the second, the 24-year-old Parikh picked up the pace with some terrific wedge shots that led to birdies on the fourth and ninth.
Varun carried forward the momentum on the back-nine rolling in some long putts on his way to birdies on the 11th, 12th, 14th and 15th.
"I hit it solid and kept it in play. I hit a lot of fairways and greens and just followed my game plan. I was a little calmer today as I knew that with a four or five-under you're always in contention at this course. I'm just going to stick to the same gameplan in the last round," Varun said.
Kartik Sharma (71-67-72), the halfway leader by two shots, slipped into the joint lead after a topsy-turvy 72 on Thursday. The 22-year-old Kartik, playing at his home course, had a superb front-nine as he sank an eagle and three birdies. He holed an eagle from the fairway with his third shot on the eighth.
Kartik had a contrasting back-nine where he had some off-swings that resulted in five bogeys.
"The more you play this course, the more you learn. I feel I have a little more advantage with this being my home course. I know the right areas to hit. But one has still got to execute those shots. It was an up and down day but I'm pleased with the way I handled myself," Kartik said.
Among the prominent names, Gaganjeet Bhullar and Yuvraj Singh Sandhu were tied 26th at five-over 221, while Jyoti Randhawa was tied 36th at seven-over 223.
In rounds three and four, amateurs are playing alongside the professionals in a unique format. Amateur golfers have teamed up with the professionals and they are competing for separate team prizes.
There will be a different set of amateurs and teams competing in rounds three and four. The amateurs will also include personalities from the corporate world as well as celebrities.
Source: IANS
About Gopi
Gopi Adusumilli is a Programmer. He is the editor of SocialNews.XYZ and President of AGK Fire Inc.
He enjoys designing websites, developing mobile applications and publishing news articles on current events from various authenticated news sources.
When it comes to writing he likes to write about current world politics and Indian Movies. His future plans include developing SocialNews.XYZ into a News website that has no bias or judgment towards any.
He can be reached at gopi@socialnews.xyz