Gangjee leads on Day 3 of Haryana Open

First round leader Rahil Gangjee of Bengaluru regained the lead on Day 3 of the Rs 1 crore Haryana Open 2024 being played at the Panchkula Golf Club, following his solid round of five-under 67 that moved his total to 15-under 201.

Varun Parikh of Ahmedabad, who too had a great start to the week like Rahil but slipped in round two, also bounced back with a 67 on Saturday that placed him second at 14-under 202. PGTI ranking leader Veer Ahlawat of Gurugram too struck a 67 to make his way to tied third at 12-under 204. Pune’s Rohan Dhole Patil (67) and Chandigarh’s Akshay Sharma (70) joined Ahlawat in tied third position.

Angad Cheema (71) was the other Chandigarh-based player in the top 10 as he occupied tied sixth place at 11-under 205, along with Dhruv Sheoran and Sachin Baisoya. Halfway leader Pukhraj Singh Gill (74) of Ludhiana dropped to tied ninth place at 10-under 206. Rahil Gangjee (63-71-67), who was overnight tied third and two off the lead, had a mixed front-nine, where he sank three birdies, thanks to his excellent 3-wood shots and dropped two bogeys as a result of finding the rough on both occasions.

Gangjee then stepped on the gas on the back-nine by picking up four more birdies, including two conversions from a range of 10 to 18 feet. The 46-year-old, who hails from Kolkata, capitalised on all four par-5s by scoring birdies on each of those holes.

Rahil said, “While my first round was incredible, I couldn’t follow that up with a great second round. But today’s effort gave a glimpse of both my previous rounds. However, I’m glad that it helped me bounce back into contention.”

Varun Parikh (64-71-67), who was overnight tied eighth and three off the lead, got off to a great start with four birdies on the first five holes, including a chip-in on the fourth to take the early lead. Varun, a winner at the PGTI in 2022, then played some outstanding wedge shots for his three birdies on the back-nine that came in exchange for two bogeys. He left himself a two-footer for birdie on the 16th and made his second chip-in of the day for par on the 18th.

Last year’s champion Jairaj Singh Sandhu of Chandigarh ended the day at tied 26th place at four-under 212.