Jammu, Oct 25 (IANS) Gurugram’s Kartik Sharma fired an outstanding five-under 67 to take a three-shot lead at 10-under 206 in round three of the INR 50 lakh J&K Open 2024 being played at the Jammu Tawi Golf Course (JTGC) in Jammu here on Friday. The 24-year-old Kartik (71-68-67), placed at tied fifth overnight and three off the lead, made a flawless round to rise four spots on the leaderboard. The left-handed golfer, currently 26th on the PGTI Ranking, is searching for his maiden professional title.

The Delhi duo of Sachin Baisoya (72) and Shaurya Bhattacharya (73), the overnight leader, ended the penultimate round in tied second place at seven-under 209. Kartik Sharma scored birdies from 40 feet and 12 feet on the second and fifth holes respectively to build the tempo early on. Sharma followed that up with some great wedge shots to set up three more birdies on the sixth, eighth and 18th. Kartik made a tap-in on the 18th.

Kartik said, “I had a good strategy coming into this round and I executed it well. I stayed focused all through and took it one shot at a time. I struck it well, found most greens and converted my opportunities with some consistent putting.

“I’ve been working hard on my game and am headed in the right direction. I have good memories from my top-10 finish here at Jammu two years back. This bogey-free round gives me a lot of confidence going into the final round.”

Bengaluru’s C. Muniyappa (69) occupied the fourth place at six-under 210 while Pune’s Udayan Mane (69), Noida’s Amardeep Malik (69) and Delhi’s Arjun Prasad (72) were a further shot back in tied fifth.

Divyanshu Bajaj Jethmalani of Kolkata shot the lowest round of the tournament so far, an eight-under 64, to rise 39 spots to tied 11th at three-under 213. Divyanshu’s round featured six straight birdies from the 18th to the fifth hole.

On Thursday, Delhi-based rookie Shaurya Bhattacharya carded a spirited three-under 69 to maintain his lead in Round Two. The 21-year-old Shaurya (67-69), the overnight joint leader, made five birdies and two bogeys on Thursday to emerge as sole leader at a total of eight-under 136. Sachin Baisoya (67-70), another Delhi golfer, produced a bogey-free two-under 70 to be placed second at seven-under 137.