Pandya continues to dominate
Young Jay Pandya continued to excel even on the penultimate day of the Yes Bank IGU Uttar Pradesh Junior Golf Championships, enjoying the top position, at the par 70 track at the Palms here on Thursday.
Pandya, 16, from Ahmedabad fired his third successive sub-par round, this time a three under par 67 to move to nine under for the championship. Pandya, originally a resident of Rajkot moved to Ahmedabad a year ago to train at the golf academy at Kalhaar Blues and Greens under the supervision of leading Indian coach Vijay Divecha, had four birdies and one eagle in his round and now he enjoys a five stroke lead going in to the final round.
Devansh Chadha from Kolkatta, who was at the second place with a total of 206, brought in an even par 70 on Thursday. Kunal Naidu, who sits a further two strokes behind at 208 with Karandeep Kochar remained at the fourth spot at 209.
The best round of the day came from national squad member Kartik Sharma, who fired a five under par 65 that include six birdies and a solitary dropped shot. This stupendous effort moves Kartik up to fifth place that he now shares with Gagan Vinod and Kshitij Naved Kaul.
Category B, saw Shubham Jaglan, reigning world champion separated himself from the rest of the pack. Dressed in all red on Thursday, he fired red hot bringing in a one under par 69 to sit at 213 and now six strokes ahead of Yashvardhan Singh, who brought in a card of 74 for a three day total on 219.
In third place was Aaryomaan Bose with a total of 221 with the trio of Saurav Rathi, Raghav Chugh and Anmol Arora right behind him.
The final day’s action certainly will be enthralling in both categories. Jay Pandya the tournament leader will be seeking his maiden triumph on the IGU National Tour to stake a claim to a spot in the national squad, and in the younger category the world champion, Shubham Jaglan will look to stamp his authority.
LEADING SCORES
Category A: 201 - Jay Pandya / 206 - Devansh Chadha / 208 - Kunal Naidu / 209 - Karandeep Kochar / 210 - Gagan Vinod, Kartik Sharma, Kshitij Naved Kaul / 211 - Vignesh Thakur.
Category B: 213 - Shubham Jaglan / 219 - Yashvardhan Singh / 221 Aaryomaan Bose / 224 - Saurav Rathi / 225 - Raghav Chugh, Anmol Arora.