Golfer Gangjee drops to tied 26th at Queen's Cup

Indian golfer Rahil Gangjee dropped nine positions to be joint 26th after carding one-under 70, while Himmat Rai and Chiragh Kumar finished tied 32nd and joint 38th respectively after the third round of the Queen's Cup here on Saturday.

Gangjee got three birdies on the second, sixth and eighth holes against two bogeys on the third and 16th to score 70. He has a three-day total of three-under 210.

Himmat dropped five spots after getting a 70 that took his total to 211 after the penultimate round of the $300,000 Asian Tour tournament.

Chiragh, however, made a jump of 25 places to be tied 38th as he carded a flawless 67 that included birdies on the second, seventh, 14th and 18th. Now he has a total of 212.

One shot behind him was S.S.P. Chawrasia, who carded 70 and finished joint 46th at the Santiburi Samui Country Club.

S. Chikka, who was overnight tied 27th, moved down 30 places after enduring a difficult round three-over 74. The Karnataka golfer totalled two-over 215 with a round to go.

Meanwhile, joint overnight leader Prom Meesawat of Thailand shot a second successive six-under 65 to open up a two-shot lead at the top from countryman Jazz Janewattananond and Australian Scott Hend.

The burly home star brilliantly snared seven birdies against a lone bogey to lead the tournament on 13-under 200.

Big-hitting Hend fired a blemish-free 64 to charge into contention for a ninth title on the Asian Tour, while Jazz returned a 66 to earn his shot at a maiden title on Sunday.

In-form South Korean Jeunghun Wang, who won back-to-back tournaments in Morocco and Mauritius last month, produced a career low 62 with two eagles and seven birdies to trail by three shots alongside American Paul Peterson, who returned a 68.

Prom, 31, hit top form from the ninth hole with five consecutive birdies before dropping a shot on 14 for only his third bogey of the week.

Round of the day belonged to Wang, another rising star aged only 20 and currently ranked second on the Asian Tour's Order of Merit. After bogeys on the first and fifth holes, the slender South Korean played the remaining holes in 11-under to rise up the leaderboard.

--IANS

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