Samarth takes charge at amateur golf

A very windy Kalhaar Blues & Greens Golf Club saw Thailand-based Samarth Dwivedi emerge as the sole clubhouse leader at 1-under par after 54 holes at the Tata Steel IGU Gujarat Open Amateur Championship 2013 here today.
Samarth goes into the final round leading for the second consecutive week after leading the Western India Amateur held at Poona Club Golf Course. He will hope for a better outing on the greens than last week when he shot a 4-over par to finish second behind Karan Taunk of Jamshedpur.
Delhi's sixteen-year-old Manu Gandas played a solid round of 2-under par to make up for yesterday's disappointment to force himself back into contention one shot behind Dwivedi at even par for the week.

Tied second with Gandas is amateur tour veteran Simarjeet Singh who turned in 1 under par for the day to complete the leader group.
Overnight leader Syed Saqib Ahmed continued his erratic form for the second day running when he shot a 6 over par 78 to follow up on 3 over par 75 yesterday. He drops to tied fourth along with Chandigarh's Feroz Singh Garewal, who shot an eagle on the 12th hole and a birdie on the 14th, to recover from an unsatisfactory front nine and finish 1 over par for the day.
The golf course is only expected to get stricter for tomorrow's final round with tricky pin positions coupled with heavy winds like the previous two days and greater yardage.

Top Scores after 54 holes:
215 Samarth Dwivedi (68,74,73); 216 Manu Gandas (69,77,70), Simarjeet Singh (68,77,71); 218 Feroz Singh Garewal (74,71,73), Syed Saqib Ahmed (65,75,78); 219 Viraj Madappa (70,75,74), Udayan Mane (70,75,74); 224 Trishul Chinnappa (74,74,76); 226 Karan Taunk (71,77,78); 227 Babloo Yadav (70,78,79), Tapendra Ghai (74,79,74), S. K. Lakra (76,73,78).