KATHMANDU, MARCH 31

Nepali professional golfer Sukra Bahadur Rai carded second straight four-under 68 and moved eight places up after the third round of the Gurugram Challenge at the Classic Golf and Country Club in Nuh, Haryana today.

Rai posted nine-under 207 to share the 22nd position with five others - Pawan Kumar (72), Amrit Lal (71), Ira Alido (73), Yashas Chandra MS (68) and Ravi Kumar (67) in the $75,000 event co-sanctioned by Professional Golf Tour of India and Asian Development Tour.

Rai - who began the campaign with one-under 71 and carded four-under 68 to jump 17 places up in the leaderboard after the second round - played even-par 36 on his front nine before firing a four-under 32 in the back nine with the help of five birdies. Staring from the 10th tee, Rai dropped a shot on the 12th hole before carding a birdie on the 18th to take the turn at even-par 36.

Rai began his back nine with a bogey before bouncing back strongly. He carded three straight birdies from the third and added two more on the seventh and ninth holes. Rai said he was able to continue with the momentum because of strong putting. 'I played it safe with approach shots and the putter played really well today,' Rai told The Himalayan Times after the round.

Rai, who is playing with pain caused by wisdom tooth and had to visit doctor after the second round, said he was troubled by the problem after he reached the 13th hole today. 'I took medicine referred by doctor and hope it will not bother me tomorrow,' said Rai.

Rai had faltered badly in the last two rounds of the two previous events after making the cut. Rai, who has bagged five major titles back home in the Surya Nepal Golf Tour, earned the full cards of PGTI from the Qualifying School and made the cut in two of the three previous events.

Rory Hie of Indonesia maintained his lead for the third straight day. He carded a six-under 66 in the third round for the 54-hole total of 18-under 198 to take onestroke lead over Dodge Kemmer, who fired second consecutive 66.

Chanat Sakulpolaphaisan (67) and Abhijit Singh Chadha (66) shared the third position at 16-under.

A version of this article appears in the print on April 1, 2022, of The Himalayan Times.