Shamim shines in round three to emerge leader

Delhi's Shamim Khan carded a resolute four-under 68 to emerge leader in round three of the PGTI Players Championship being played at the Oxford Golf & Country Club here.
Shamim's total moved to 10-under 206 after his superb third round effort. Rahil Gangjee of Kolkata returned the day's best score of five-under 67 to be placed second.
Gangjee is now breathing down Shamim's neck with a nine-under 207 total.
Shamim (71-67-68), who was overnight tied third and one stroke off the lead, earned successive birdies on the fifth and sixth holes to make a move up the leaderboard.
The 35-year-old reigning Rolex Rankings champion sank a 40-feet birdie putt on the fifth. A poor chip resulted in a bogey for Shamim on the seventh but he picked up a birdie on the ninth to make the turn at two-under.

Shamim's back-nine featured a chip-in for birdie on the 13th, two birdie conversions from a range of 12 to 15 feet on the 14th and 17th as well as a birdie on the closing 18th. The professional from the Delhi Golf Club also dropped bogeys on the 11th and 15th as a result of a couple of three-putts. He thus ended up with seven birdies and three bogeys.
"I had a steady first round but my game picked up from round two onwards. I've been putting much better and have also hit my irons closer over the last two days as compared to round one. I rate the sixth as a very tough hole since one can't sight the fairway from the tee and the green is also very tight.

"I was therefore delighted to make a birdie on the sixth today. I've not been finishing my rounds well in the last few events. But I feel I've managed to improve that aspect of my game this week," said Shamim, a winner of nine professional titles.