Randhawa stays on course for a win at DLF Masters; Kapur 2nd

Gurgaon, May 12 (UNI) Jyoti Randhawa was within sniffing distance of the title as he carded one-under 71 to open up a whopping six-stroke lead over Shiv Kapur, who blasted a six-under 66 to move up to second place after the penultimate round at the Rs 65 lakh DLF Masters golf tourney here today.

Runaway leader Randhawa, thanks to his brilliant eight-under 64 yesterday, goes into final round with an aggregate of 13-under 203 while talented Kapur, tied 11th yesterday, showed his class as he took his tally to seven-under 209.

SSP Chowrasia was in sole third place after he carded a two-under 70 in the third round while Aussie Richard Blackwell carded a two-over 74 for fourth place at 212. Vijay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar were a stroke further behind at 213 while Gaurav Diwan and Gaurav Ghei were tied at two-under 214.

After yesterday's windfall, Randhawa birdied the second hole after he hit a driver and eight-iron to eight feet. However, he dropped a shot on the seventh hole and made the turn at level-par.

He dropped another shot on the 13th hole but back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes resulted in yet another sub-par round.

However, it was Kapur who carded the best round of the day. He played consistently, making birdies on the third, fourth, eighth and ninth holes to make the turn at four-under. He picked up his fifth birdie of the day on the 10th hole, but dropped his only stroke of the day on the 13th where he left his four-iron second shot short of the green, chipped to six-feet and missed the putt. He then birdied the 14th, saved an excellent par on the 17th to card a 66.

Scores: 203 - Jyoti Randhawa (68,64,71); 209 - Shiv Kapur (72,71,66); 210 - SSP Chowrasia (71,69,70); 212 - Richard Backwell (68,70,74); 213 - Vijay Kumar (70,70,73), Mukesh Kumar (70,71,72); 214 - Gaurav Diwan (69,68,77), Gaurav Ghei (72,69,73); 215 - Lam Chih Bing (75,71,69) UNI