Macau: India’s Rahil Gangjee carded five birdies over last 10 holes to become the best-placed Indian at the halfway stage of the USD 800,000 Venetian Macau Open here on Friday.<\/p>\n
The 35-year-old from Kolkata, two over after first two holes, finally ended at four-under for the day and was two-under for 36 holes with rounds of 73 and 67 and was placed tied 15th.<\/p>\n
As many as 10 Indians made the cut, but Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa surprisingly missed out. Arjun Atwal, returning to Asian Tour after a long hiatus added a 69 to his first round 72 and was tied 25th, alongside Sujjan Singh (70-71) and Anirban Lahiri (73-68).<\/p>\n
Chiragh Kumar (73-69) was tied 36th, while defending champion Gaganjeet Bhullar (73-70) and Himmat Rai (72-71) were tied at 43rd. SSP Chowrasia (72-72), Ajeetesh Sandhu and Shankar Das (72-72) also made the cut at two-over 142 in tied 57th place.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Australian Scott Hend put on a masterclass with a blistering eight-under-par 63 to open up a four-shot lead over Ernie Els of South Africa and Bangladeshi Siddikur after the third round of the Venetian Macau Open on Saturday.\n<\/p>\n
Big-hitting Hend, who has won twice already this season, charged up the leaderboard with an eagle, seven birdies against a lone bogey for a three-day total of 12-under-par 201 in the US$800,000 Asian Tour event.<\/p>\n
Four-time Major winner Els battled to a 69 despite a hot start when he birdied two of his opening three holes while overnight leader Siddikur got his wish of playing with the Big Easy after a 70 for a 205 aggregate.<\/p>\n
India\u2019s Rahil Gangjee (66), Filipino Elmer Salvador (70), Daisuke Kataoka of Japan (69) and Baek Seuk-hyun of Korea (70 all share fourth place, a further stroke back going into the final 18 holes on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Since opening his campaign with a 74, Hend, who won the Chiangmai Golf Classic presented by PTT and Mercuries Taiwan Masters this year, has been irrepressible, shooting a 64 in the second round and improving by another shot today.
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He turned in 29 with an eagle from five feet on the second hole and four birdies before settling for three more birdies against a lone dropped shot at the treacherous par three 17th hole. \u201cJust an extra birdie. Just played a little bit better today. That’s all I can do,\u201d said Hend, who is currently second on the Asian Tour\u2019s Order of Merit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI’ve set my goals I want to achieve. If hit my targets, that’s all I can ask. If somebody else goes out and shoots 61 tomorrow, and I don’t shoot a good enough round, then well done to them. I can only control myself and what I do and that’s all I can ask of myself.<\/p>\n
\u201cI over engineered a few shots and a few putts. The old adage is ‘Keep It Simple, Stupid’ and that’s pretty much what you’ve got to do out there. Just fairways, greens, and read the putts. Don’t over complicate it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Els, who is making his debut at the Venetian Macau Open, started strongly with birdies on two and three but failed to ride on the early momentum, with dropped shots on 14 and 16 preventing him from getting closer to Hend.
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But a birdie on 18, which he missed a short birdie putt on Friday, ensured him a spot in the final match with Hend and Siddikur. \u201cI wish I could have done that yesterday. But yeah, that was important \u2026 great to play in the last threeball, see what the leader does firsthand,\u201d said Els.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just hope you get off to a good start and he doesn’t, and you’re in the game. Or, you’ve got to have a hot finish. So there’s a lot of golf left.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt I was a bit off here and there. I’ve got to go low tomorrow. It seems like Scott is playing really good. I played with him the first two rounds, and he had a tough start the first day, but since then, he’s been on fire. I feel good for the challenge tomorrow. For some reason, I feel I’ve got a good chance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pint-sized Siddikur is relishing a dream final day pairing with his idol, Els. \u201cI\u2019m so excited,\u201d said Siddikur, who turned in 32 but stuttered coming home with a double bogey, bogey and birdie on the card.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not going to put pressure on myself. I\u2019ve got the experience of playing many times in the leader group. I\u2019m just going to play my own game and that\u2019s probably the best for me. If I can hold the putts, then I may have a chance. I need the putter to get hot. Today, it wasn\u2019t good. Yesterday, it was excellent.\u201d
<\/p>\n
Jointly organised by Macau Sport Development Board of Macau SAR Government (MSDB) and Golf Association of Macau, the tournament is sanctioned by the latter and the Asian Tour, and promoted by IMG. Following a successful foray into the world of golf last year, The Venetian\u00ae Macao-Resort-Hotel has returned as title sponsor of the event for a second successive year.<\/p>\n
Sponsors joining The Venetian\u00ae Macao in support of the tournament include Rolex, Srixon, Air Macau, Blue Girl and Bonaqua, as well as first time sponsors Lamborghini, Maui Jim, Subway, Hytera, Twinwoods Wine and Hong Kong Descente, which carries both the Le Coq Sportif Golf Collection and Munsingwear.<\/p>\n
For more details on the Venetian Macau Open, please visit www.thevenetianmacauopen.com<\/p>\n
201 – Scott HEND (AUS) 74-64-63.<\/p>\n 205 – Ernie ELS (RSA) 71-65-69, SIDDIKUR (BAN) 69-66-70.<\/p>\n 206 – Rahil GANGJEE (IND) 73-67-66, Daisuke KATAOKA (JPN) 71-66-69, Elmer SALVADOR (PHI) 70-66-70, BAEK Seuk-hyun (KOR) 71-65-70.<\/p>\n 207 – Scott BARR (AUS) 68-69-70.<\/p>\n 208 – Jason KNUTZON (USA) 69-71-68, Kalle SAMOOJA (FIN) 68-71-69, Jay BAYRON (PHI) 70-67-71.<\/p>\n 209 – LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) 71-72-66, Anirban LAHIRI (IND) 73-68-68, HUNG Chien-yao (TPE) 70-71-68, Arjun ATWAL (IND) 72-69-68.<\/p>\n 210 – ZHANG Lian-wei (CHN) 69-74-67, Chiragh KUMAR (IND) 73-69-68, Javi COLOMO (ESP) 75-66-69, Adam GROOM (AUS) 70-69-71, Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 71-68-71.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Macau: India’s Rahil Gangjee carded five birdies over last 10 holes to become the best-placed Indian at the halfway stage of the USD 800,000 Venetian Macau Open here on Friday.<\/p>\n The 35-year-old from Kolkata, two over after first two holes, finally ended at four-under for the day and was two-under for 36 holes with rounds of 73 and 67 and was placed tied 15th.<\/p>\n As many as 10 Indians made the cut, but Jeev Milkha Singh and Jyoti Randhawa surprisingly missed out. Arjun Atwal, returning to Asian Tour after a long hiatus added a 69 to his first round 72 and was tied 25th, alongside Sujjan Singh (70-71) and Anirban Lahiri (73-68).<\/p>\n Chiragh Kumar (73-69) was tied 36th, while defending champion Gaganjeet Bhullar (73-70) and Himmat Rai (72-71) were tied at 43rd. SSP Chowrasia (72-72), Ajeetesh Sandhu and Shankar Das (72-72) also made the cut at two-over 142 in tied 57th place.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Australian Scott Hend put on a masterclass with a blistering eight-under-par 63 to open up a four-shot lead over Ernie Els of South Africa and Bangladeshi Siddikur after the third round of the Venetian Macau Open on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-isn-front-stories"],"yoast_head":"\n
Scores after round 3 of the Venetian Macau Open 2013 being played at the par 71, 6606 Yards Macau GCC course (a- denotes amateur):<\/strong><\/p>\n