KATHMANDU, JANUARY 13

Sukra Bahadur Rai carded four-under 68 and extended his lead to four shots after the third round of the Surya Nepal Central Open here at the Gokarna Golf Club today.

Rai, the winner of the second event under the Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2021-22 at his home course in Dharan last month, posted the 54-hole total of 11-under 205. He will enjoy a four-stroke advantage over Nepal No 1 pro Bhuwan Nagarkoti going into the final round. Nagarkoti moved up to second after carding three-under 69 in the penultimate round for the total score of seven-under 209.

Rai played three-under 33 on the front nine before adding one-under 35 on the latter half. He carded birdies on the third, seventh, ninth and 11th holes in his bogey-free round.

Nagarkoti dropped a shot on the first hole before carding birdies on the second, third and ninth holes to take the turn at two-under 34. He then carded a birdie on the 17th and saved pars on eight holes on the back nine.

Former top pro Rabi Khadka was further two strokes behind at 211 after he carded one-under 71, while amateur Subash Tamang – the winner of the double gold medals in the 13th South Asian Games on home soil in 2019 – shot a 73 to slip down to fourth at 212. Rame Magar (75) was fifth at 216, while amateur Sadbhav Acharya (71) moved up to sixth at 218.

Niraj Tamang was seventh at 221, followed by Dhana Bahadur Thapa (223). Winner of the season-opener Surya Nepal Kathmandu Open, Jayaram Shrestha shared the ninth position with Surya Prasad Sharma and Ramesh Adhikari at 10-over 226.

In all, 39 pros and 19 amateurs are taking part in the tournament that offers a cash purse of Rs 775,000. The winner will earn Rs 135,000, while runner-up and second runner-up will receive Rs 88,000 and Rs 65,000 respectively.

Others in top 21 will get their share of cash prizes.

A version of this article appears in the print on January 14, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.