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| March 30, 2003 | Sunday | Muharram 26, 1424 |
Randhawa storms into one-shot advantage
NEW DELHI, March 29: Jyoti Randhawa, winner of last year’s Asian PGA tour order of merit, fired a five-under-par 67 to storm into a one-shot lead after the third round of the Indian Open on Saturday.
The 30-year-old, who won back-to-back Indian Masters titles at the same Delhi Golf Club venue in 1998 and 1999, birdied four of the last five holes to finish at 12-under 204.
Little-known Australian Adam Groom, who led for most of the day before losing momentum late in his round, had to settle for second place on 205 after carding a second successive 69.
The 24-year-old Groom, who turned professional last October, was four under for the day after the first nine holes but slipped back with a bogey on the par-four 16th, where he hit a three-wood into the bushes.
Myanmar’s Zaw Moe, who had shot a course record 63 in the opening round, was a further shot at 10-under 206 in a tie for third with American Mike Cunning and Canada’s Rick Gibson.
Moe returned a 70, Cunning a 68 and Gibson, who was second last year to India’s Vijay Kumar, carded a 69.
Randhawa launched his round with an eagle on the first hole, where he holed a 30-foot putt, and finished strongly with birdies on 14, 15, 17 and 18.
India’s Arjun Atwal, who is ninth on the European Tour money list following his four-stroke victory over South African Retief Goosen in Malaysia last month, was four shots off the pace in joint eighth place.
Atwal shot a five-under 67, despite running up a triple-bogey on the 16th, where he went into the bushes when his tee shot ricocheted off a tree in the right fairway.
South Africa’s in-form James Kingston, 11th in Europe after losing in a playoff to compatriot Darren Fichardt at the Qatar Masters earlier this month, was joint sixth at nine under after firing a 71.
Leading third round scores
204 Jyoti Randhawa 66 71 67
205 Adam Groom 67 69 69
206 Zaw Moe 63 73 70, Rick Gibson 65 72 69, Mike Cunning 69 69 68
207 James Kingston 69 67 71, Mo Joong Kyung 69 71 67
208 Arjun Atwal 69 72 67, Alex Rodger 73 66 69
209 Digvijay Singh 69 73 67 210 Aung Win 71 68 71, Pablo Del Olmo 67 72 71 211 Gaurav Ghei 72 66 73, Terry Pilkadaris 69 71 71, Chen Yuan Chi 69 71 71, Sanjay Kumar 68 72 71, Kyi Hla Han 70 71 70, Adam Fraser 69 72 70, Craig Kamps 73 69 69
HARRINGTON IN FRONT
PONTE VEDRA BEACH (Florida): Padraig Harrington took advantage of calm conditions to claim the second-round lead in the $6.5 million Players Championship at the Stadium course at the TPC at Sawgrass on Friday.
The Irishman’s four-under-par 68 gave him a nine-under total of 135 and a two-shot cushion over 1997 U.S. PGA winner Davis Love III, defending champion Craig Perks of New Zealand and Skip Kendall when play was suspended with 27 players still on the course.
Fred Couples, Jay Haas, Rocco Mediate and Australia’s Adam Scott were on 138. World number one Tiger Woods flirted with the halfway cut mark until he made three birdies in four holes to finish with a 70 for 142, two-under.
Harrington, 31, has six wins on the European Tour since turning professional in 1996 but did not triumph in the U.S. until last year in the limited-field Target World Challenge. In that unofficial event, he held off Woods to win by two shots.
A notoriously slow starter, Harrington has not won in 2003, in four starts his best finish came in the Qatar Masters in mid-March when he shot a final-round 65 to tie for 11th.
His victory in the Asian Open in November, however, does count as a 2003 event on the European Tour.
Harrington completed his first round on Friday morning, playing 26 holes on a day when calm conditions and blue skies contributed to much lower scores than on Thursday.
When the first round was completed, he was joint leader with 1984 and 1996 Players champion Couples. Over the 26 holes, Harrington shot a combined eight-under-par.
Second round scores
135 Padraig Harrington 67 68
137 Davis Love III 70 67, Craig Perks 68 69, Skip Kendall 68 69
138 Fred Couples 67 71, Adam Scott 69 69, Jay Haas 68 70, Rocco Mediate 68 70
139 Geoff Ogilvy 71 68, Bob Estes 71 68, Corey Pavin 70 69, Steve Flesch 71 68, Glen Day 72 67
140 Fred Funk 70 70, Stewart Cink 69 71, John Daly 70 70
141 Tom Lehman 69 72, Shigeki Maruyama 76 65, Tim Clark 69 72, Niclas Fasth 68 73, Bob Tway 68 73, Mark Calcavecchia 73 68, Jim Furyk 73 68, Robert Allenby 70 71, Darren Clarke 71 70.—Reuters
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