Bhullar, Chawrasia and Malik tied on penultimate day at the TATA Steel Tour Championship 2020
With three prominent golfers tied for the lead, an exciting final day is in the offing
A clash of the titans beckons on the final day of the TATA Steel Tour Championship 2020 after Gaganjeet Bhullar, Shiv Shankar Prasad Chawrasia and Amardeep Malik ended the day with a three-way tie at the Beldih and Golmuri golf courses in Jamshedpur on Saturday.
Star Indian golfers Bhullar and Chawrasia along with Noida’s Malik, a two-time winner on the Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI), ended the penultimate day with 20-under-196.
Bhullar, however, has the momentum out of the three as he ended the third round with 64 while Chawrasia and Amardeep remained in contention with rounds of 68 and 67 respectively.
Meanwhile, Bengaluru-based Khalin Joshi turned heads as he produced the best score of the day with 10-under-62 to bag the fourth spot tied with Bengaluru-based Chikkarangappa (68) at 18-under-198.
Earlier in the day, Bhullar (69-63-64) was tied fifth and five off the lead at the halfway stage but he went on to take the top spot at the leaderboard with a round featuring nine birdies and a bogey.
He started the day with some brilliant recoveries from the trees on the second and third where he birdied courtesy of up and downs from close to 100 yards on both occasions.
Bhullar then went on to add a 40-feet birdie putt on the seventh before he produced another shot to set up a tap-in birdie on the ninth. He then consolidated his position by picking up an additional five more birdies.
“It was a solid round and I feel a continuation from the second day where I had shot a nine-under. I made a lot of up and downs for birdies. I also scrambled well at the start having found the trees twice," Bhullar said.
“I’ve given myself a lot of chances in the last two days and putted really well. I’ve been getting close enough to the pins and have been converting those chances which kept building the momentum for me. I feel I’ve adjusted well to the varying conditions at the two courses.
“It’ll be interesting to play in the leader group along with SSP after a long time. I can’t remember the last time we played together in the leader group on the final day,” he added.
Malik (63-66-67), on the other hand, bagged the overnight third position with two off the lead as his bogey-free run was halted.
His birdies also included two were tap-ins, two were long conversions and one was an up and down from the bunker. He also dropped two bogeys.
Chawrasia (67-61-68) was overnight second and one off the lead but he gained a position after his brilliant 68 on the penultimate day.