Chawrasia Extends Lead at Indian Open


SSP Chawrasia carded a 2-under 69 to double his lead in the Hero Indian Open at Delhi Golf Club. After beginning Saturday with a one-stroke edge over the field, the 36-year-old moved to 12-under 201, two shots ahead of Bangladeshi Siddikur Rahman (70) entering Sunday's final round.

The next closest pursuer is Australia's Marcus Fraser, who shot a 67 to reach 206, while another stroke back are Sweden's Daniel Chopra (65) and Thailand's Prayad Marksaeng (69).

After going bogey-less through 36 holes, Chawrasia dropped his first shot of the tournament, on the par-3 17th. But he also had three birdies for his 2-under outing.

"I feel great," he told the European Tour's website. "I missed a few putts but I'm still happy. I missed my 8-iron on the 17th hole, or else I would have still been bogey-free.

"I want to think and play positive on the final day. The final round is always special so I will play aggressively. I played my own game and I am not thinking that I'm playing match play. If anyone is coming closer, let them - I just want to focus on my own game."

"It was a good day," noted Siddikur, who carded three birdies and a double on the par-4 15th. "I had a nice rhythm and picked up a couple of shots until the double-bogey.

"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 1-under today.

"The birdie at the last was very important. Anything can happen in this game - I am looking forward to 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."

Sharing sixth at 208 are American Paul Peterson (71) and India's Anirban Lahiri (70), who won in Malaysia earlier this month. Another four players are tied for eighth at 209.

For all the scores, visit http://www.europeantour.com/europeantour/season=2015/tournamentid=2015012/leaderboard/index.html.