Shankar Das moves to pole position in penultimate round

Kolkata's Shankar Das produced a timely six-under 66 to grab the third-round lead at the Kensville Open here today.
Das went one ahead as his three-day total moved to 12- under 204 at the Kensville Golf and Country Club.
Noida's Amardip Sinh Malik, the overnight leader, closed the penultimate round in second place at 11-under 205 having posted a score of 69.
Delhi's Himmat Singh Rai (69) was placed third at nine- under 207 while Chandigarh's Ajeetesh Sandhu (67) occupied the fourth place at eight-under-208.
Shankar Das (68-70-66), trailing by two shots and placed tied third at the halfway stage, shot the day's best score of 66, to emerge as the leader and top contender for the title.

"My driving wasn't great, but my approach shots and short game were quite good today. The birdie on the first was a sign for me that I might play well today as I had bogeyed my opening holes on the first two days and didn't end up playing that well. Most of my birdies were from a range of six to seven feet," Das said.

Himmat Singh Rai kept himself in the hunt with a strong back-nine where he scored three birdies on the last five holes. He trails the leader by three shots heading into round four.
Ajeetesh Sandhu, the runner-up last week, produced a creditable 67 to be placed fourth, one shot behind Rai.

Allahabad's Samarth Dwivedi, the round one leader, was in fifth place at seven-under 209 while Noida's Gaurav Pratap Singh, who shot a 66 in round two, was a further stroke behind in sixth place on Thursday.
The two local amateurs, Varun Parikh (four-over 220) and Anshul Patel (11-over 227), were placed tied 37th and 61st respectively.