![\"Standard](\"images\/golf\/perera.jpg\")
It could be a great day for Si Lankan golf tomorrow as local favourites Anura Rohana and Mithun Perera are both in with a good chance of winning The Standard Chartered Open\u00a02012, Sri Lanka\u2019s largest ever professional golf event.<\/p>\nIt could be a great day for Si Lankan golf tomorrow as local favourites Anura Rohana and Mithun Perera are both in with a good chance of winning The Standard Chartered Open\u00a02012, Sri Lanka\u2019s largest ever professional golf event.<\/p>\n
Although conditions were tough at times with a good downpour and strong winds for a large part of the latter half of the day\u2019s play, scoring was still good but not quite up to yesterday\u2019s level. Most players felt that the course was in excellent condition and the pin positions were very fair, not too tough. <\/p>\n
After a six under par round of 65, taking him to a ten under par 54 hole total of 203, Anura Rohana is the leading Sri Lankan player – only three shots behind India\u2019s Shamim Khan, the joint overnight leader who shot a 68 to take the outright lead on thirteen under par \u2013 an even score of 200 for the three rounds so far.<\/p>\n
Rohana commented \u201cI played well today with seven birdies and one bogey, the course is in excellent shape and there is a lot of good golf being played out there. As it worked out last week, being behind going into the final round is not always a bad thing! I\u2019m only three shots off the lead and anything can happen tomorrow. Whoever wins, I\u2019m sure it will be an exciting finish and a great advert for golf in Sri Lanka.\u201d<\/p>\n
One shot off the lead on twelve under is Vinod Kumar who went round in 67 today, four under par; he was vying with Khan for the lead most of the way round The Royal Colombo Club course, but just fell one behind as Khan set-up his slight advantage for tomorrow\u2019s final round.
Level with Rohana on ten under is overnight co-leader, Abhijit Chadha, who despite playing well and under par for most of the round, just faltered over the back nine and finished with a level par 71 and a three round total of 203.<\/p>\n
The other local Sri Lankan star, Mithun Perera, could not repeat the \u2018birdie power\u2019 that took him to a stunning 63 yesterday; despite having various chances, things didn\u2019t go his way today and he had to settle for a more sedate one under par 70 and nine under par overall. He lies four shots off the lead going into the final round but is still well within striking distance of the win.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was tough out there with the strong winds, but I should have done better; the pins were in good positions but my putting let me down. Coming from four shots back is not impossible but I will definitely have to hole my putts if I am going to be in the final mix\u201d said Perera.<\/p>\n
One further shot behind Perera on seven under par is a group of three players who all scored well today \u2013 M Dharma and Digvijay Singh with four under par 67s and Rashid Khan with a three under par 68. Singh\u2019s score could have been even better – he started very well and was four under par for the round after six holes, further birdies followed to get him to ten under par for the tournament at one stage but three dropped shots over the last two holes moved him back down the leader-board.<\/p>\n
Special mention should be made of the two Sri Lankan amateurs who made the cut \u2013 Zen Dharmaratne who was two under par at the half-way stage, but unfortunately shed a few shots today to take a six over par 77 for a three round total of 217; and M Arumgam who just made the half-way cut and had a very creditable one over par 72 today for a 54 hole score of 218. These are the only two amateurs left in the event and in competition for the .Best Amateur\u2019 prize.<\/p>\n
Leading Scores after the third round<\/strong> \u2013 200 Shamim Khan (68,64,68); 201 Vinod Kumar (66,68,67); 203 Anura Rohana 68,70,65), Abhijit Chadha (65,67,71); 204 Mithun Perera (71,63,70); 206 M Dharma (71,68,67), Digvijay Singh (69,70,67), Rashid Khan (67,71,68).<\/p>\n By Indian Sports News Network<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It could be a great day for Si Lankan golf tomorrow as local favourites Anura Rohana and Mithun Perera are both in with a good chance of winning The Standard Chartered Open\u00a02012, Sri Lanka\u2019s largest ever professional golf event. Although conditions were tough at times with a good downpour and strong winds for a large […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[2075,3106,6113,1676,4020,6112,6111],"class_list":["post-9270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-isn-front-stories","tag-abhijit-chadha","tag-digvijay-singh","tag-m-dharma","tag-mithun-perera","tag-rashid-khan","tag-shamim","tag-the-standard-chartered-open"],"yoast_head":"\n