Murthy leads by a stroke in Mewat golf

MEWAT - R. Murthy of Bangalore took a one-stroke lead in round three of the Solaris Chemtech Open Golf Championship as he dazzled with a five under-67 at the Classic Golf Resort here Friday.

Murthy currently has an overall score of 10 under 206 and is one stroke ahead of overnight leader Vijay Kumar, who fired an even par 72 on day three.

Murthy (71-68-67), who was tied fourth at the end of round two, produced seven birdies against two bogeys on day three to raise hopes of winning his first professional title.

He bogeyed the second and then garnered four birdies over the next five holes (on the third, fourth, fifth and seventh) to move up the leader board. The 31-year-old sank a 30 feet putt for birdie on the fourth.

A bogey on the 11th did not demoralize the Bangalorean as he went on to knock down three more birdies on the 13th, 14th and 17th. He chipped-in from about 30 feet on the 17th.

My target for todays round was four under and Im glad that I managed to do even better than that. This is now a perfect foundation for me ahead of the final round. Im doing well in all departments of the game and have been quite consistent during this event,” said Murthy, whose best result on the Aircel-PGTI so far has been a fourth place finish last season.

“In previous events, even if I performed well on the first two days, I used to stumble on the third day.”

He added: “My ball-striking has been top-class this week and I have also been very patient. The best shot today was the second from 140 yards on the seventh that stopped just five feet short of the flag.

Vijay (67-68-72) fired an even par 72 Friday but will still be one of the major contenders in the final round as he is on Murthys tail at nine under 207. Vijay dropped a bogey on the third and birdied the 15th.

Vijay said: “My putter went cold today and I also played some ordinary chip shots. On the other hand, I hit it really well today. I need to do well with the putter in round four in order to have any chance of getting my hands on that trophy.”

Vinod Kumar (71-71-66) of the Delhi Golf Club fired seven birdies against a lone bogey to come up with a six under 66 which happened to be the best score of the day. He thus ended the day in third place at eight under 208.

S.S.P. Chowrasia was still in the hunt at fourth with six under 210, ahead of Gaurav Ghei, Mohd. Nawab and Sanjay Kumar at five under 211.