Eugenio Chacarra leads, all set for gruelling Day 4 fight

New Delhi: When Eugenio Chacarra drained a 41-feet putt on the seventh green during the third round, the Delhi Golf Club crowd following him raised it voice in unison in appreciation. Chacarra was going through a top-of-form phase and steadily building on his lead that he had secured earlier in the day during the second round that had spilled into Day 3.

The Spaniard, a star here, had just drained his fourth birdie in seven holes. The turnaround period was too little, just 20 minutes, for the players having to play parts of two rounds on a single day. The first day's rain had left the original schedule in disarray and everyone was forced to play more than 18 holes in a day over the next two days. Chacarra's second round was unfinished on the second day and he resumed it on the third day, finishing it at five-under to grab the clubhouse lead at 10-under.

Therefore, the crowd's appreciation of that fourth birdie in first seven holes was quite genuine.

The tall and bulky Spanish played four more holes after that seventh-hole birdie, collecting even par on each of those holes, before returning to the clubhouse at 14-under for the tournament after 48 holes. He will now have to play 25 holes on the final day and grind hard to keep the two stroke lead over nearest contenders Dutchman Joost Luiten and compatriot Angel Hidalgo who are at 12-under and are yet to complete their third rounds. Luiten will play 24 holes on the last day whole Hidalgo gets to play 25 holes, the same at Chacarra.

Luiten's birdie on the fifth hole, drained from 30-odd feet, exemplified his strong form. Luiten, Hidalgo and Chacarra have all four-under in the third round and have played same number of holes with Luiten playing just one more than the two.

So it is indeed going to be a tough last day and the one who can carry his body and mind together through the warm Delhi October will hold on to win.

"Putting was good. I love being in contention on Sunday. That's what I play every week for, you have a chance to win the tournament the last nine holes on Sunday," said Chacarra.

"Obviously it's nice when you're at the top of Friday, but there is a lot of golf left still. But, yeah, I like where I'm at. I like where my game is. I need to control what I can control, and that's my target for the next couple rounds."

Daniel Hillier, Adrian Meronk and Scott Jamieson were tied in fourth place with a score of 11-under but they all have to complete their third rounds.

Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood is placed tied for 11th with nine-under.Thomas Detry, who was in joint lead last night, was one-over after 11 holes in the third round and had slipped to tied 16th.

Meanwhile, Om Prakash Chouhan (68-72-71) was the best-placed Indian in tied 30th place at a total of five-under 211.

The four-hour-fifty-minute game time lost to rain on Thursday resulted in a backlog due to which round two finished earlier on Saturday. A total of 77 players made the halfway cut of even-par 144. Twenty-six players out of a total of 77 managed to complete their third round on Saturday before suspension of play.

Tags : Eugenio Chacarra, Joost Luiten, Golf, Angel Hidalgo, Tommy Fleetwood