Bangalore: The leaderboard – at least the top four – did not change except the difference of strokes as Manu Gandas extended his overnight one shot lead to five at the end of the third round of the IGU Southern India Junior Boys Golf Championship being played at the par-72 KGA course here on Thursday. Manu added a level-par 72 to remain at three-under 213 for the tournament and enhance his chances for a back to back victory.


Tapendra Ghai shot a 76 for a 54-hole total of 218 to slide away from the leader and now in all likelihood will have to contend for the bridesmaid position along with Feroz Singh Garewal who was just a shot behind and Viraj Madappa who was lying fourth at 222. Piyush Sangwan signed the day’s second best card of 73 to move into the tied-fifth position along with Prakhar Asawa.


Karandeep Kochar matched the day’s best card of 72 to lead in Category B with a three-round total of 231. He was followed by Jaiveer Singh and Arjun Prasad who were tied for the second position at 235. Arjun Puri was fourth at 238 while Karthik Sharma was fifth at 241.


The conditions at the KGA grew tougher especially with the slick greens as most of the players failed to read them correctly. Manu however made a focused approach as he parred his way until the fifth before he stuck a blue patch making two consecutive bogeys on the sixth and seventh. A solace came on the ninth where he made a birdie. On the back nine, a birdie on the 11th was followed by a bogey on the 13th which was his last mistake of the day. Although he flirted with birdies, he could manage to convert a lone one on the 15th to submit a level par card of 72.


“The greens were playing tough today but I am happy with my result today,” said Manu after the round. “I am looking forward to my second victory in as many weeks. I do not have any special plans for the final day except to keep the ball in play,” added the leader.


Top scores after 54 holes


Category A


213 Manu Gandas (73, 68, 72); 218 Tapendra Ghai (72, 70, 76); 219 Feroz Singh Garewal (75, 71, 73); 222 Viraj Madappa (73, 75, 74); 226 Piyush Sangwan (74, 79, 73), Prakhar Asawa (73, 76, 77); 227 Yuvraj Sandhu (77, 74, 76), Jairaj Singh Sandhu (75, 74, 78); 229 Akash Srinivasan (77, 79, 73); 230 Kartikey Vashist (80, 74, 76); 231 Shubham Narain (79, 74, 78); 232 Tutul Ali (79, 77, 76)


Category B


231 Karandeep Kochar (81, 78, 72); 235 Jaiveer Singh (77, 79, 79), Arjun Prasad (78, 74, 83); 238 Arjun Puri (80, 79, 79); 241 Kartik Sharma (83, 79, 79); 242 Saptak Talwar (85, 80, 77); 243 Tanvir Kahlon (82, 79, 82); 246 Ranveer Grewal (82, 83, 81); 247 Karan Pratap Singh (84, 85, 78), Saarthak Chhibber (82, 81, 84), K Sidharth (78, 79, 90)