Shiv Kapur grabs sole lead after third round

Shiv Kapur closed in on his first title in 11 years after grabbing the sole lead with a two-under 69 in the third round of the Panasonic Open Golf Championship here on Saturday.

Kapur parred 14 straight holes before hitting back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th to seize the outright lead on nine-under 204 at the 150 million yen event sanctioned by the Asian and Japan Tours.

Overnight leader Kodai Ichihara of Japan, chasing a first career win, posted a 71 to trail by one-shot while a host of proven champions including Marcus Fraser of Australia and K.T. Kim of Korea are two shots back at the Chiba Country Club, Umesato course.

Fraser, the current Order of Merit leader, Kim, who won last week, Yuta Ikeda of Japan, Hung Chien-yao of Chinese Taipei, Sanghee Lee of Korea and Thailand’s Thanyakon Khrongpha are tied in third place on 206s.

“It is a great feeling to lead in a tournament. At the start of the day, the goal was to keep doing what I’ve been doing. It was a battle of patience for me because the putts didn’t fall,” said Kapur.

SSP falls to T-50 In Shenzhen, China, a horrendous front nine spoilt his card as Indian golfer S.S.P. Chawrasia slipped to tied 50th with three holes still to go in the unfinished third round of the of the Shenzhen International golf tournament.

Chawrasia, who was T-10 when play was stopped in second round on Friday, slipped to T-16 when it ended this morning.

Soomin Lee saw his lead cut to two shots in the delayed third round.

Joshi ends tied 23 in Philippines Khalin Joshi closed the week with a modest two-over 74 to end tied 23rd at the $60,000 ICTSI Sherwood Hills Classic in Cavite, Philippines.

Joshi’s earlier rounds were 73-74-69 for a total of two-over 290. Newcomer Oscar Zetterwall became the first Swede to win on the Asian Development Tour when he closed with a second consecutive four-under-par 68 to seal a three-shot victory.