S S P Chawrasia remains on course for a third European Tour title on home soil, despite his remarkable bogey-free run coming to an end at the Hero Indian Open.
The 36 year old, a two-time winner at this venue, had produced flawless rounds of 65 and 67 to lead fellow course specialist Siddikur Rahman by one shot at the halfway stage.
Chawrasia added further 16 blemish-free holes to take his total to 52, before finding a waste area behind two greenside bunkers at the short 17th from where he could only scuttle his second to 30 feet and two putt for a first dropped shot of the tournament.
However, three earlier birdies gave Chawrasia a 69 and 12 under par total – enough to double his advantage over Siddikur, who went round in 70, in what increasingly looks like a two-horse race.
Australian Marcus Fraser added a flawless third round 67 to sit third on seven under, with a best-of-the-day 65 taking Daniel Chopra into a share of fourth on six under – the Swede chipping in at the last to join Thailand’s Prayad Marksaeng.
“I feel great,” said leader Chawrasia. “I missed a few putts but I’m still happy.
“I missed my eight iron on the 17th hole, or else I would have still been bogey free.
“I want to think and play positive on the final day. The final round is always special so I will play aggressively.
“I played my own game and I am not thinking that I’m playing match play. If anyone is coming closer, let them - I just want to focus on my own game.”
Chawrasia, who claimed both of his previous European Tour titles in India, made a dream start with birdies from five feet at the first and 15 feet at the second.
Bangladeshi Siddikur, who has also won here and only failed to finish in the top ten once in 11 starts over this layout, kept the gap to two by firing his approach to tap-in range at the first.
Chawrasia then caught a huge break on the long eighth when his tee shot clattered off a tree branch down the right and bounced 40 yards forward to the edge of the fairway, but the World Number 204 failed to take advantage as he only managed a par after missing a five footer.
However, Chawrasia’s escape at the ninth owed nothing to luck; after blind-siding himself with a wayward tee shot down the left and chopping out sideways, he pitched to five feet and converted.
Siddikur had also run up a string of pars to the turn to stay two behind, and when the 30 year old eventually ended a run of 11 straight pars with a birdie from 25 feet on the 13th, Chawrasia followed him in from much shorter range to remain two in front.
That gap briefly became four when Siddikur, who got away with driving into trees down the 14th, carved his tee shot left at the 15th and, after hacking out sideways, found a bunker with his third from where he failed to get up-and-down.
But Chawrasia’s late bogey and a Siddikur birdie from four feet at the last set up what promises to be an intriguing final round tussle.
“It was a good day,” said Siddikur, a two-time winner on the co-sanctioning Asian Tour. “I had a nice rhythm and picked up a couple of shots until the double bogey.
“I managed to recover well and made a great par save on 17, and then managed to birdie the last so overall I am happy with one under today.
“The birdie at the last was very important. Anything can happen in this game – I am looking forward to tomorrow and hopefully I can play the way I did on Thursday. I tried not to look too much at what S S P was doing today – I tried to focus on my own game and keep hitting the greens in regulation and try to make some birdie putts.”
