Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen will maintain a four-stroke lead heading into the final day of the Kolkata Challenge at Royal Calcutta Golf Club, as he edges closer to securing his maiden Challenge Tour triumph.
The Dane continued to impress for the third consecutive day, notching five birdies and one bogey en route to a four-under-par round of 68, advancing to 15 under par for the week, holding a four-shot advantage over home favourite Rahil Gangjee and Swede Mikael Lindberg, who both share second place.
The 24-year-old, presently ranked 31st in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, acknowledges the significance of the upcoming day in his career.
“A win wouldn’t only be nice for my season, but it would be my first professional win, so I know how important it is,” he said.
“But my plan is just to go out and try to execute as well as I can and we’ll see where I end up.
“My game plan has been working really well so far. If and when adversity strikes tomorrow, which undoubtedly it will at some point, it’s just about being able to handle it. I’ll keep plugging away and staying patient.”
Neergaard-Petersen transitioned to a professional status less than 12 months ago and has amassed five top-ten finishes in that span, including one on the DP World Tour.
A victory could propel the Dane to the summit of the season-long Rankings, and after carding two birdies in his final three holes to surge four strokes ahead, he believes his patience paid off late in the third day.
“I’m really pleased with how I handled myself today,” he added. “I got off to somewhat of a slow start, probably only hitting one fairway and one green in regulation from the fifth hole to the tenth, but I managed to play those in even par.
“Then it was nice to get a couple of putts to drop down the stretch. I tried to stay as patient as possible.
“Some of the pins really suck you into going for them, so my game plan all week has been to hit on the fat side of the green and just trust that I’m going to make some putts from ten to 20 feet, and I was able to do that today.”
Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen trails by five shots and holds fourth place after posting a six-under-par round of 66. Six players are tied for fifth place, including India’s Angad Cheema and Veer Ahlawat, Englishman David Horsey, Frenchman Alexander Levy, Scotsman Daniel Young, and Jamal Hossain from Bangladesh.
The final round of the Kolkata Challenge commences at 7:30 a.m. local time, with Neergaard-Petersen teeing off at 9:31 a.m. alongside Lindberg and Gangjee.
Scores after round three:
201 R NEERGAARD-PETERSEN (DEN) 68 65 68,
205 M LINDBERG (SWE) 70 69 66, R GANGJEE (IND) 70 68 67,
206 T PULKKANEN (FIN) 70 70 66,
207 D HORSEY (ENG) 69 71 67, A CHEEMA (IND) 70 70 67, A LEVY (FRA) 70 69 68, J HOSSAIN (BAN) 70 68 69, V AHLAWAT (IND) 67 70 70, D YOUNG (SCO) 69 66 72,
208 N KRISTENSEN (DEN) 69 71 68, A SHARMA (IND) 68 73 67, J ANDERSEN (DEN) 69 70 69, D SHEORAN (IND) 69 69 70,
209 O CHOUHAN (IND) 72 69 68, S BISHNOI (IND) 70 70 69, K BROBERG (SWE) 70 72 67, W BESSELING (NED) 68 69 72,
210 M GANDAS (IND) 72 68 70, J PARRY (ENG) 68 70 72, R KARLBERG (SWE) 70 72 68, C LINDH (SWE) 68 70 72,
211 Y CHANDRA MS (IND) 71 69 71, P KATICH (GER) 73 68 70, L BJERREGAARD (DEN) 70 71 70, J LAGERGREN (SWE) 72 69 70, G BRIXI (CZE) 70 72 69, P PINEAU (FRA) 70 69 72, M SANJU (IND) 69 70 72,
212 A PRASAD (IND) 69 72 71, A CHESTERS (ENG) 71 69 72, M OSHRINE (USA) 68 72 72, N VON DELLINGSHAUSEN (GER) 73 68 71, J SENIOR (ENG) 73 68 71, B HEBERT (FRA) 69 71 72, S BROWN (ENG) 70 70 72, J RUTHERFORD (ENG) 69 71 72, J ZUSKA (CZE) 69 71 72, A BEDI (IND) 70 72 70,
213 L CIANCHETTI (ITA) 73 67 73, S DWIVEDI (IND) 70 71 72, K PRATAP SINGH (IND) 69 73 71, R KHAN (IND) 72 70 71,
214 S DAS (IND) 73 68 73, A RAJ (IND) 70 70 74, S BAISOYA (IND) 69 71 74, A ZEMMER (ITA) 70 72 72, R MCEVOY (ENG) 71 71 72, U MANE (IND) 67 71 76, J GOUGH (ENG) 72 70 72,
215 C HOWIE (SCO) 71 70 74, C PURCELL (IRL) 70 71 74, H BAISOYA (IND) 71 70 74, H HOPEWELL (AUS) 70 71 74, M STEINLECHNER (AUT) 68 72 75, S TALWAR (IND) 71 71 73, V CHOPRA (USA) 72 70 73, A WILSON (ENG) 68 70 77,
216 T GHAI (IND) 69 71 76, G HURLEY (IRL) 72 68 76, G DE LEO (ITA) 71 71 74, A ATWAL (IND) 70 72 74,
217 G PORTEOUS (ENG) 71 71 75, A ETCHENIQUE (FRA) 68 74 75, J SINGH SANDHU (IND) 70 72 75, J SALE (FRA) 71 71 75,
219 M AZHAR (IND) 70 72 77,
**
143 D BAJAJ (IND) 70 73, C KNIPES (ENG) 71 72, L KEUNEN (NED) 71 72, J DE BRUYN (GER) 71 72, G MASON (ENG) 72 71, J SAINZ (ESP) 69 74, P BOVARI (ITA) 73 70, C PAISLEY (ENG) 69 74, E WALKER (SCO) 72 71, B ROBINSON THOMPSON (ENG) 68 75, B HOSSAIN (BAN) 71 72,
144 A ROOPA ANAND (IND) 71 73, A PLANT (ENG) 72 72, J MOSCATEL (ESP) 74 70, Y SANDHU (IND) 73 71, G BHULLAR (IND) 75 69, M HAMMER (GER) 73 71, T GOUVEIA (POR) 69 75, K KOCHHAR (IND) 73 71, A PATEL (IND) 71 73, O FARR (WAL) 73 71, V PARIKH (IND) 72 72, A ALBERS (GER) 71 73,
145 C MCKINNEY (AUS) 76 69, M COUVRA (FRA) 75 70, S CHAWRASIA (IND) 74 71, K KUMAR (IND) 72 73, R SCIOT-SIEGRIST (FRA) 68 77, D FOOS (GER) 73 72, T CHINNAPPA (IND) 75 70, B BAWDEN (ENG) 73 72,
146 S HUTSBY (ENG) 74 72, J GRENVILLE-WOOD (UAE) 77 69, M DHARMA (IND) 74 72, S AHMED (IND) 73 73, J HENRY (SCO) 72 74, R KLEU (SUI) 73 73, G SINGH (IND) 74 72, R WATTEL (FRA) 73 73, L VACARISAS (ESP) 75 71, J ALLAN (ENG) 75 71,
147 G BOYD (ENG) 73 74, A SHARMA (IND) 74 73, B ?KESSON (SWE) 73 74, S BINU (IND) 76 71, B VIRTO (ESP) 75 72, S CHHIBBER (IND) 74 73, T VAHLENKAMP (GER) 71 76, V PASTOR (ESP) 76 71, M SIMONSEN (DEN) 72 75, T SHADBOLT (ENG) 76 71, K JOSHI (IND) 77 70,
148 C GUICHARD (FRA) 73 75, M GIBOUDOT (FRA) 73 75, O LINDELL (FIN) 74 74, C BRING (DEN) 77 71, F MORY (FRA) 75 73, H GANGWAR (IND) 74 74, A MAGUIRE (IRL) 74 74, H GUPTA (IND) 73 75, L VAN MEIJEL (NED) 75 73, M GRADECKI (POL) 73 75, K SHARMA (IND) 71 77, K ESTEVE RIGAILL (AND) 76 72,
149 Q VIDAL (ESP) 73 76, G BLOOR (ENG) 75 74, P SINGH GILL (IND) 77 72, R THOMPSON (ENG) 77 72, A CA?IZARES (ESP) 72 77, A LOHAN (IND) 74 75, L RUUSKA (FIN) 76 73, J MURPHY (IRL) 77 72, S SINGH SISODIA (IND) 76 73, R DHOLE PATIL (IND) 71 78,
150 J FREIBURGHAUS (SUI) 73 77, R ROUSSEL (FRA) 74 76,
151 M MADSEN (DEN) 75 76, T THURLOWAY (ENG) 76 75, S TAMANG (NEP) 77 74, A MALIK (IND) 74 77,
152 P L?NGFORS (SWE) 78 74,
153 K VAN DER WEELE (NED) 78 75, R KUMAR (IND) 76 77, H SETHIE (IND) 76 77,
154 C MUNIYAPPA (IND) 75 79,
155 V MADAPPA (IND) 79 76,
158 K KAUL (IND) 79 79,
**
OUT M MUTHU R (IND) 77 RT, S CHIKKARANGAPPA (IND) 74 WD,