Bhullar, Muniyappa set Brunei course ablaze

Indo-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN - Riding high after last week’s title win in Indonesia, Gaganjeet Bhullar shot a brilliant seven-under 64 to zoom to tied third and within two shots of the leader, veteran Thai Boonchu Ruangkit, at the Brunei Open here Saturday.

The 21-year-old Bhullar is now 11-under 202, while Ruangkit,53, is 13-under 200. In between in second place is Filipino Jay Bayron (67) on a day when temperatures went up to 33 degrees celsius.

This season Bhullar has four top-10s on Asian tour, including one win and one second place. He has also won his last three starts on Indian Tour.

“The thing is to keep everything simple and one thing that has worked for me is to keep my mind relaxed,” said Bhullar, who shares the third place with Australia’s Scott Barr and Korea’s Ted Oh.

Meanwhile, another Indian setting the course ablaze was Chinnaswamy Muniyappa, whose stunning nine-under 62 set a new course record. Muniyappa, who has rounds of 69 and 72 on first two, landed six birdies on the front nine and another three on the back nine, as he played a bogey-free round. Muniyappa is now tied sixth and just three shots off the lead.

Chiragh Kumar (68) also made a move up from 36th to 26th with a three-under card that puts him at five-under for three rounds. Anirban Lahiri (70) is tied 35th, up one place at three-under 210, and Gaurav Ghei (72) 53rd, the same position where he started the third round.

Bhullar made the biggest move of the day by storming up the leaderboard from tied 21st to tied third. Bhullar, who had shot 23 birdies and just one bogey last week, had a blemish-free 64 with seven birdies, three on the front nine and another four on the back nine.

Bhullar is now within striking distance of becoming the first player on the Asian Tour to win back-to-back tourneys this season. He is banking on the mental strength that he has acquired over the past year or two, to win his second title in two weeks.

“I think I’ve become a better player after playing the Open in Turnberry. My mental vision towards my goal has definitely changed a lot. Playing on the Asian Tour has also helped me a lot as it taught me how to keep myself in contention week after week,” he said.

Muniyappa set a new course record after firing a sparkling 62. The 32-year-old Indian from Bangalore notched not only his best score of the week after rounds of 69 and 72, but also put himself in contention for his first win on the Asian Tour.

“This is definitely my strongest start since I turned professional. I always knew that I could play golf well and today’s round has really shown what I’m capable of,” said Muniyappa who heads into the final round tied for sixth.

Starting the day in tied-11th, Boonchu got off strongly with three birdies starting from the second to the fourth hole. His birdie blitz continued with another at the 11th after the turn.

A magical eagle three on the par-five 15th then moved him up to the top with another closing birdie on the 18th confirming his