Khon Kaen, Thailand, 29-11-2014
Lahiri continues in the lead on penultimate day of King's Cup
India’s Anirban Lahiri set up a mouth-watering showdown with some of Thailand’s finest golfers after taking a slender one-shot lead with a third round four-under-par 68 at the King’s Cup on Saturday.
Thaworn Wiratchant, a 17-time Asian Tour winner, is ready to deny Lahiri’s title ambitions as he carded a flawless 66 to take second place while Australia’s Andrew Dodt gate crashed the home party by sharing third place with Sutijet Kooratanapisan, Panuphol Pittayarat and Jakraphan Premsirigorn at the Singha Park Khon Kaen Golf Club.
Lahiri, who led from the opening day, surprised even himself after returning to find himself back atop the leaderboard at the US$500,000 Asian Tour event.
The 27-year-old struggled early in his round as he could only turn in 36, having one birdie offset by a bogey-four on the fifth hole.
“I’m actually surprised to find myself in the lead as I didn’t play well today especially on the front-nine. It was quite a struggle there. It felt like every step I took, I took two steps back again,” said Lahiri.
Lahiri’s game came back to life with two birdies in three holes after the turn. He dropped another shot on 13 but picked up a further gain on 15 before an eagle-three on the closing 18 saw him displacing Thaworn at the top with his three-day total of 16-under-par 200.
“I knew Thaworn was off to a hot start and I was struggling on the front-nine. I was just trying to catch up and stay ahead. So it was really nice to finish off with an eagle as I really needed that boost,” said Lahiri.
SSP Chowrasia was the next best Indian at tied 12th with a total of 10-under-206.
Arjun Atwal occupied tied 25th place at six-under-210.
Rashid Khan was a further shot back in joint 37th while Chikkarangappa was tied 62nd at one-under-215.
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