Hero Indian Open 2024, Day 3: Nakajima enlarges lead to four strokes; Ahlawat stays six shot behind

A brilliant final-hole birdie enlarged overnight leader Keita Nakajima’s lead to four shots at -18 over the duo of Romain Langasque and gate-crasher Gavin Green.

Though a yet-to-trail Nakajima goes into the final day of the $2.25 million Hero Indian Open here with a comfortable lead, a dramatic twist on Sunday cannot be ruled out. At least four players kept alive their chances of raising the coveted trophy.

Among the eight Indians making the ‘cut’ at 143, Veer Ahlawat remained the best. He stayed six strokes behind the leader after a three-under 69. Manu Gandas (70) spoilt a strong back-nine finish after two late
bogeys, in succession.

Overnight leader Nakajima’s two-stroke lead evaporated on the eighth-hole after he sent his tee-shot into the water for a bogey while nearest contender Langasque found his fourth birdie to catch up at 16-under.

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To the credit of the Japanese, he regained focus to rebuild his two-stroke lead after birdies on the 11th and 12th. Langasque , desperate for birdies, erred on the 13th to fall back by three strokes and slipped further when he double-bogeyed the 16th.

Nakajima, too, failed to crack the 14th for the third day in succession and bogeyed. But he stayed ahead at -17 saving par on the 15th and consolidated his lead by adding a last-hole birdie. Lagasque, too, finished with a birdie.

While all the attention was on the two front-runners, Gavin Green of Malaysia made a charge. He shot a stunning, flawless 64 to jump to the tied-second spot after three birdies on the last four holes. On the front-nine, Green found three birdies and an eagle-3 on the eighth hole to raise visions of a strong finish. On Sunday, Green could well be the man to watch.