Chapchai leads by eight strokes at

27 under par in New Delhi

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY ASIAN TOUR

New Delhi, March 20: Thailand’s Chapchai Nirat continued his breathtaking run of form with a seven-under-par 65 to take a massive eight strokes lead on 27-under-par 189 total at the US$300,000 SAIL Open on Friday.
The two-time Asian Tour winner heads into the final round with a commanding lead over second-placed Gaganjeet Bhullar of India, whose dream of securing his maiden title on the Asian Tour is still very much alive after firing a 66 for a 197 total.
South Africa’s Keith Horne together with Philippines’ Antonio Lascuna and Australia’s Richard Moir are two shots behind Bhullar in tied-third after posting matching 199s at the Classic Golf Resort.
New Zealand’s Mark Purser carded a 72 to lie in fourth place on 200 while Scotland’s Ross Bain and Thailand’s Prom Meesawat and Wisut Artjanawat are a further shot back in tied-fifth on matching 201s.
The play of the day once again belonged to Thai standout Chapchai, who has now established a new 54-hole scoring record and is three strokes away from setting a new 72-hole record on the Asian Tour.
The Asian Tour record for the lowest winning total was 29-under-par set by Ernie Els at the 2003 Johnnie Walker Classic in Perth.
Chapchai got off to a steady start with seven straight pars followed by a bogey on 11th. However, his game quickly came to life starting with a birdie on 12th.
The Thai star then went on a birdie blitz, closing his round with five straight birdies from the 14th to the 18th.
“I am extremely happy with my performance, though a little disappointed that I could not shoot another 62,” said Chapchai.
“I expect the pin positions to be tougher tomorrow. I’d love to break the world record of 32-under for four rounds. I’m really enjoying the game at this stage of my career and relish every challenge,” added the big-hitting Thai.
With Chapchai seemingly running away with the event, Bhullar is now the only player with an outside chance of narrowing the gap and creating an upset.
The young Indian was four-under through 13 holes, with four birdies and no bogeys. And with Chapchai two-under for the day at that stage, the gap between the two Asian Tour professionals was down to five shots.
But with the Thai leader closing with five birdies and Bhullar only managing two at the closing stages, it meant that the pole position on the leaderboard after the third round would still be retained by Chapchai.
“I am a little disappointed to miss about three putts within 10 feet today. This is a course for the taking. I have not been able to take full advantage of the par-fives,” said Bhullar, who had just one birdie from the four par-fives in the third round after missing out on a birdie only once on the par-fives during the first two days.

“The conditions were a little tricky at the start of the round as I had to deal with headwind for the first three holes. But I attacked the pin all day and made 16 regulations for the third consecutive day,” added the Indian.
Pre-tournament favourite Jyoti Randhawa is in tied-40th place after recording a 68 for a 208 total.
THIRD-ROUND SCOREBOARD

Par 216 (3 x 72)
189 Chapchai Nirat (Tha) 62 62 65
197 Gaganjeet Bhullar 67 64 66
199 Keith Horne (Rsa) 68 67 64, Richard Moir (Aus) 66 67 66, Antonio Lascuna (Phi) 65 67 67
200 Mark Purser (Nzl) 65 63 72
201 Ross Bain (Sco) 67 68 66, Prom Meesawat (Tha) 68 65 68, Wisut Artjanawat (Tha) 65 64 72
202 John Parry (Eng) 68 68 66, Thammanoon Srirot (Tha) 67 68 67, Ashok Kumar 67 68 67
203 Thaworn Wiratchant (Tha) 69 69 65, Chris Gaunt (Aus) 70 66 67, Sushi Ishigaki (Jpn) 68 67 68, Shiv Kapur 68 66 69, Will Yanagisawa (USA) 68 66 69, Mars Pucay (Phi) 67 66 70
204 Rory Hie (Ina) 67 70 67
205 Unho Park (Aus) 70 67 68, S S P Chowrasia 66 71 68, Gaurav Ghei 69 67 69, Rahil Gangjee 67 67 71, Jerome Delariarte (Phi) 71 69 65, Mardan Mamat (Sin) 65 67 73
206 Amandeep Johl 68 69 69, Siddikur (Ban) 68 70 68, Christopher Campbell (Aus) 67 71 68, George Coetzee (Rsa) 68 68 70, Naman Dawar 67 69 70, Jeff Burns (USA) 70 68 68, Artemio Murakami (Phi) 67 68 71, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha) 72 68 66, Kodai Ichihara (Jpn) 70 70 66
207 A.S. Lehal 70 66 71, Lam Chih Bing (Sin) 68 71 68, Jason Norris (Aus) 68 68 71, Himmat Rai 71 68 68, Hendrik Buhrmann (Rsa) 68 72 67
208 Tim O'neal (USA) 71 67 70, Jbe Kruger (Rsa) 67 69 72, C Muniyappa 68 66 74, Vikrant Chopra 72 68 68, Jyoti Randhawa 71 69 68
209 Sujjan Singh 69 66 74, Digvijay Singh 71 69 69
210 Atthaphon Prathummanee (Tha) 72 66 72, Wilhelm Schauman (Swe) 67 71 72, Pijit Petchkasem (Tha) 68 70 72, Mukesh Kumar 70 70 70, Arjun Singh 68 72 70, Tim Stewart (Aus) 71 69 70
211 Vijay Kumar 68 70 73, Raju Ali 72 67 72, Steven Tiley (Eng) 71 69 71
212 Rafiq Ali 67 70 75, Shamim Khan 66 72 74, Kao Bo-Song (Tpe) 67 72 73, Varut Chomchalam (Tha) 71 68 73, Somkiat Srisanga (Tha) 68 71 73, Anirban Lahiri 72 62 78
213 Pongthep Jaewchumnanchao (Tha) 68 71 74
214 Yasumasa Suzuki (Jpn) 69 71 74, Gurki Shergill 71 69 74, Do Kim (Aus) 71 69 74
217 Nabin Mandal 71 68 78, Panuwat Muenlek (Tha) 69 71 77