Noida: Viraj Madappa despite a two-over card of 73, was sitting on a 14-shot lead at the end of the third round of the IGU Uttar Pradesh Juniors being played at the Noida Golf Course here on Thursday. The Kolkata lad who has a 3-day total of 1-under 212 is almost a sure shot winner unless he messes up his final round on the morrow.

Feroz Singh Garewal was second at 226 while Tanvir Kahlon and Pukhraj Singh Gill shared the third place at 228. Jairaj Singh Sandhu was fifth at 229 while three players Ritwick Jain, Raghubir Choudhary and Prakhar Asawa were tied for the sixth place at 230.

Meanwhile in Category B, Tanvir Kahlon led the field with a 54-hole total of 228. Karandeep Kochhar was second at 233 while Kartik Sharma was third at 237. Arjun Puri and Udayajit Bhalotia occupied the fourth and fifth place at 238 and 239 respectively while Hassan Rahman was sixth at 240.

Viraj who had shot a brilliant 5-under 66 yesterday, was in a different mode today. Armed with a four-shot lead, Viraj took the defensive mode and made no mistake except on the par-3 fourth hole where he made a bogey to cross over at 1-over. A similar story followed on the back-nine and he was cruising smoothly until he made a double on the penultimate hole, a par-5. However, he signed off with a birdie to submit a card of 73.

“It is a big lead and I am confident of a victory,” said the leader. “My hitting was a bit poor today. The double on the 17th was a black spot else I played according to my plan of taking it hole by hole,” he added.

Top scores after 54 holes:

Category A & B

212 Viraj Madappa (A) (73, 66, 73); 226 Feroz Singh Garewal (A) (74, 71, 81); 228 Tanvir Kahlon (B) (79, 74, 75), Pukhraj Singh Gill (A) (75, 77, 76); 229 Jairaj Singh Sandhu (A) (72, 77, 80); 230 Ritwik Jain (A) (80, 75, 75), Raghubir Choudhary (A) (75, 80, 75), Prakhar Asawa (A) (72, 83, 75); 233 Karandeep Kochhar (B) (81, 75, 77); 235 Anant Singh Ahlawat (A) (81, 78, 76), Varun Parikh (A) (80, 77, 78), Kartikey Vashist (A) (77, 75, 83), Yuvraj Sandhu (79, 70, 86)

Category A

212 Viraj Madappa (73, 66, 73); 226 Feroz Singh Garewal (74, 71, 81); 228 Pukhraj Singh Gill (75, 77, 76);229 Jairaj Singh Sandhu (72, 77, 80); 230 Ritwik Jain (80, 75, 75), 230 Raghubir Choudhary (75, 80, 75), Prakhar Asawa (72, 83, 75); 235 Anant Singh Ahlawat (81, 78, 76), Varun Parikh (80, 77, 78), Kartikey Vashist (77, 75, 83), Yuvraj Sandhu (79, 70, 86)

Category B

228 Tanvir Kahlon (79, 74, 75); 233 Karandeep Kochhar (81, 75, 77); 237 Kartik Sharma (77, 84, 76); 238Arjun Puri (83, 77, 78); 239 Udayjit Bhalotia (77, 78, 84); 240 Hassan Rahman (79, 78, 83); 242 Arjun Prasad (80, 81, 81), Kartik Digvijay Singh (77, 83, 82), 243 Saptak Talwar (83, 83, 77); 244 Jaiveer Singh (79, 79, 86)