Indian Open golf championship | Chacarra takes a one-shot lead

Eugenio Chacarra leads Hero Indian Open golf championship with one-over 73, as Nakajima and Stone trail closely.

Eugenio Chacarra of Spain emerged the sole leader despite shooting one-over 73 in the third round, on a teaser of a day when the ball kept missing the lip of the cup with unnerving consistency for most, in the $2.25 million Hero Indian Open golf championship at the DLF Golf and Country Club here on Saturday.

After having shot two-under 70 on the first two days, the 25-year-old Chacarra endured two bogeys and was quite thrilled to get the elusive birdie on the 15th. The fortunes tended to change at that stage, as the 24-year-old Nakajima, who had made all par till then, had a bogey on the 15th. With one more bogey on the 17th, on a day when the birdies dried up, the defending champion was one shot behind the leader, along with Brandon Stone.

The South African Stone was one of the two, along with Troy Merritt of USA to have a sub-par round, one-under 71 this day. Stone had four birdies and three bogeys, the same as Merritt, who was joint sixth.

“I am very pleased. But I know that one bad swing can change it all. Need to play better tomorrow (Sunday), especially with my putting,” said Chacarra.

The 24-year-old Nakajima, who had finished runner-up last week in Singapore, put things in perspective by saying that he was happy to have made 16 pars on such a challenging course. This was in contrast to the nine birdies he had the previous day.

Nakajima asserted that he would continue to stay patient and play his best on Sunday.

Among others, Jens Dantorp of Sweden had to endure a double bogey on the 17th and yet stayed joint fourth with Matthew Jordan of England on one-under 215.