SSP Chawrasia and Siddikur Rahman will continue their head-to-head battle in the final round of the Hero Indian Open.
The two Delhi Golf Club experts carded respective rounds of 69 and 70 in the third round, taking home favourite Chawrasia to 12 under par for the week and two clear of his Bangladeshi rival going into the final day, with Australian Marcus Fraser their closest challenger on seven under after a third round 67.
Daniel Chopra made a brilliant eagle three on the par five 18th to card the lowest round of the day, a fine six under par 65 to move from tied 23rd spot to fourth place alongside the Thai, Pryad Marksaeng.
Chawrasia has won both of his European Tour titles at the Delhi Golf Club, while Siddikur has played here on 11 occasions, winning once at the 2013 Hero Indian Open and racking up another nine top ten finishes.
Given the strength of those records, and the fact both men are playing such high quality golf (Chawrasia made his first bogey of the week on his 53rd hole of the week), it is difficult to foresee anything but a thrilling battle between the two during Sunday’s final round.
Player Quotes
SSP Chawrasia: I feel great. I missed a few putts but I’m still happy. I missed my eight iron on the 17th hole or else, I would have still been bogey free. My tee shot landed in the trees but it wasn’t as bad as it looked. I hit a low shot and I was able to save par. I want to think and play positive on the final day. The final round is always special so I will play aggressively. The wind changed today and it was totally different from the last two days. I just kept playing low ball flights. I played my own game and not thinking that I’m playing match play. That’s my target. If anyone is coming closer, let them. I just want to focus on my own game. I’m trying to be calm but I’m feeling very frustrated inside!
Siddikur Rahman: “It was a good day. I had a nice rhythm and picked up a couple of shots until the double bogey. But I managed to recover well and made a great par save on 17 and then managed to birdie the last so overall I am happy with one under today. The birdie at the last was very important. Anything can happen in this game – I am looking forward tomorrow and hopefully I can play the way I did on Thursday. I tried not to look too much at what SSP was doing today – I tried to focus on my own game and keep hitting the greens in regulation and try to make some birdie putts.”
Marcus Fraser: “Today was really good. I didn’t make the same mistakes I made the first couple of days. It could have been better but I am pretty sure the majority of guys say that to you when they walk off the course no matter what they have shot. I love this golf course – I wish we could play here every week. It’s just a proper golf course and you have to play the way the game should be played around here in my opinion. Most weeks nowadays you tee it up as high as you can and hit it as hard as you can and that isn’t the way the game should be played. You should have to think your way round and that’s what you have to do here. I have a little chance tomorrow but I will have to shoot pretty low and hope that SSP and Siddikur don’t do that which is difficult to see at the moment. Those two guys play here like it’s their back yard. They just love the course as well and you can see why in their results. But hopefully I can go out there tomorrow and give it a go.”
Round three scores:
201 S Chawrasia (Ind) 65 67 69,
203 S Rahman (Ban) 65 68 70,
206 M Fraser (Aus) 69 70 67,
207 D Chopra (Swe) 70 72 65, P Marksaeng (Tha) 68 70 69,
208 P Peterson (USA) 69 68 71, A Lahiri (Ind) 73 65 70,
209 M Perera (Sri) 67 72 70, J Lagergren (Swe) 65 71 73, R McEvoy (Eng) 70 67 72, A Da Silva (Bra) 71 70 68,
210 J Palmer (Eng) 70 71 69, P Lawrie (Irl) 69 70 71, A Otaegui (Esp) 70 70 70, B Evans (Eng) 72 70 68,
211 R Wattel (Fra) 70 74 67, J Roos (RSA) 70 69 72, K Richardson (Aus) 67 74 70, C Nirat (Tha) 65 71 75, P Junhasavasdikul (Tha) 73 70 68,
212 K Pratt (Aus) 75 69 68, J Hahn (USA) 70 71 71, S Chikkarangappa (Ind) 69 75 68, A Vongvanij (Tha) 72 72 68, J Randhawa (Ind) 74 69 69, C Del Moral (Esp) 69 71 72, J Singh (Ind) 72 72 68, M Korhonen (Fin) 68 72 72, M Jiménez (Esp) 70 71 71, A Wall (Eng) 72 70 70, C Lloyd (Eng) 74 70 68,
213 C Kumar (Ind) 69 74 70, M Jaini (Ind) 73 69 71, M Orrin (Eng) 71 72 70, M Kumar (Ind) 71 73 69, J Parry (Eng) 70 74 69, A Cheema (Ind) 72 70 71,
214 L Weber (Fra) 68 74 72, C Pigem (Esp) 70 72 72, J Knutzon (USA) 71 72 71, V Riu (Fra) 71 72 71, K Kumar (Ind) 72 72 70, A Groom (Aus) 74 69 71, S Sharma (Ind) 69 72 73, S Kjeldsen (Den) 71 71 72, R Khan (Ind) 71 72 71, P Meesawat (Tha) 71 71 72, W Ormsby (Aus) 75 68 71, M Tullo (Chi) 72 69 73,
215 R Lee (Can) 65 75 75, P Pittayarat (Tha) 72 71 72, T Khrongpha (Tha) 68 74 73, D Chia (Mas) 68 76 71, A Malik (Ind) 75 69 71, A Atwal (Ind) 70 70 75, M Tabuena (Phi) 72 72 71, S Kapur (Ind) 73 69 73, J Janewattananond (Tha) 68 74 73,
216 J Scrivener (Aus) 72 72 72, J Campillo (Esp) 71 73 72, S Walker (Eng) 72 72 72, A Velasco (Esp) 71 71 74, M Mamat (Sin) 73 71 72,
217 N Holman (Aus) 71 73 73, O Chouhan (Ind) 71 73 73, G Maybin (Nir) 72 70 75, S Soderberg (Swe) 72 71 74,
218 N Thangaraja (Sri) 71 73 74,
221 C Paisley (Eng) 75 68 78,
