Saqib cards 68 to lead by one stroke in Jaipur Open

Bengaluru's Syed Saqib Ahmed carded a stoic two-under-68 to lead by one shot after the third round of the TATA Steel PGTI's Jaipur Open at the Rambagh Golf Club here on Thursday.

While Saqib took his total to 17-under-193, Dharma returned a gutsy five-under-65 to aggregate 16-under-194 at the Rs. 30 lakh event.

Gurugram-based rookie Priyanshu Singh's round of 63 placed him third at 14-under-196.

Chandigarh's Abhijit Singh Chadha, an Asian Tour regular, fired the day's best score, a flawless 62, to be in tied seventh place at 12-under-198.

Saqib, who had equalled the week's lowest score of 61 on day two, entered the third round with an overnight three-shot lead.

On Thursday, he sank three birdies including a chip-in on the sixth. With his lead increasing to four shots at the turn, Saqib seemed to be on course to take total control on day three.

However, Saqib couldn't push ahead on the back-nine as the birdies dried up for him. The 25-year-old, who won his only event on the PGTI in February 2018, ended up dropping a bogey on the 17th to close the day with just a one-shot advantage.

Ludhiana's Pukhraj Singh Gill (66), Kolkata's Divyanshu Bajaj (67) and Gurugram-based Abhinav Lohan (69), were all in tied fourth at 13-under-197.

Defending champion Aman Raj (65) of Patna was placed tied 10th at 11-under-199 while PGTI Order of Merit leader Rashid Khan (65) of Delhi occupied tied 23rd place at eight-under-202.