Gandas joins the deviant Bhattacharya at the top of the Tolly leaderboard

Many Gandas, past winners at Tollygunge Club, were at his best in Kolkata as they clinched the joint lead in the DP World Players Championship on Thursday. Image courtesy of DP World PGTI.

By Rahul Banerji

Manu Gandas made the most of Moving Day to grab a share of the 54-hole lead alongside ace Shaurya Bharr]ttacharya at the DP World Players Championship in Kolkata on Thursday.

Gandas fired a 6-under par 64 in the third round to join Bhattacharya (73) at the top of the leaderboard at the Rs 1.5 crore event powered by Urbana at the gray Tollygunge Club, the DP World PGTI said.

Former DP World PGTI Order of Merit champion Gandas (66-69-64), tied for seventh on the night and nine shots off the lead, posted an eagle, five birdies and a bogey on Thursday for a total of 11-under 199.

Bhattacharya (64-62-73), the leader at the half by four shots, was not at his best that day as his two birdies and five bogeys gave the lead back to the chasing pack.

Past Order of Merit champion Om Prakash Chouhan (64), Akshay Sharma (64) and Sanjeev Kumar (67) were all in third place at 10 under 200.

Gandas, a former winner at the Tollygunge Club course, came slowly off the blocks with his first birdie at the Par-3 eighth thanks to a great tee shot.

He then went on a roll as he followed with another birdie on the ninth and a 17-foot Eagle conversion on the 10th.

Fast rally

Gandas’ bogey on 12 was quickly overcome as he then rallied for three birdies, including a chip-in on 14 and an 18-foot conversion on 15.

“My shot from the tees stood out today, as did my approach shots,” Gandas said.

“I’ve created a lot of opportunities for myself. I would say I haven’t been in the right direction so far this season, but I’m slowly getting there.

“Plus, I enjoy playing at Tollygunge and I have good memories of my victory here in 2024. I will draw inspiration from that in the final round.”

Bhattacharya, the leader in the first two rounds, had a bad day on Thursday as he missed a number of chip putts.

“My club selection and decision-making were not correct today. The consistency was not there. I will now try to restart and try to replicate what I did in the first two rounds.”

The Kolkata duo of Mohammad Sanju and Divyanshu Bajaj were tied at 36th.^e rank 1 among 209.

Also read: Bhattacharya extends Tolly’s lead with a low tournament run

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