India's Anirban Lahiri continued his dominance of the SAIL-SBI Open in Delhi Friday by posting a five-under-par 67 to take the third round lead.
Home favourite Lahiri takes a three-shot advantage into the final round Saturday after signing for a three-day total of 15-under-par 201 at the Delhi Golf Club.
Australia's Scott Barr began to pile on the pressure on the Indian leader when he returned with his best score of 65 to take a share of second place alongside Thailand's Prom Meesawat on 204.
India's Gaganjeet Bhullar and P. Gulfam signed for matching 207s to take tied-fourth at the $300,000 full field Asian Tour event.
Lahiri opened with a birdie but dropped a shot on the par-four second, before adding three further birdies to turn in 33.
He seemed to be surging ahead after carding another three birdies in five holes after the turn.
However two successive bogeys on the 15th and 16th holes led to some anxious moments for the Indian before he restored order with a closing birdie on the 18th.
"I'll take my 67 anytime today. I made a few silly mistakes which cost me a few bogeys. I could have done without those but overall I'm still happy," said Lahiri.
"It's never nice to give away shots but that was how it was today and I've take that and come back tomorrow and play well again," added Lahiri who is seeking a pillar-to-post victory.
Barr is hoping that his red-hot putter will help him reel in the leader in the final round he seeks to win a maiden Asian Tour title this week.
"It was great. I probably left a couple of shots out there but today I holed a couple of nice putts. I'm putting better than ever and it's nice," said the Australian.
"Anything is possible tomorrow and we'll wait till we get to the back-nine. Hopefully I can put some pressure there and we'll take it from there," he added.
Leading scores after round 3 of the SAIL-SBI Open being played at the par 72 Delhi Golf Club course (a- denotes amateur):
201 - Anirban LAHIRI (IND) 65-69-67.
204 - Scott BARR (AUS) 71-68-65, Prom MEESAWAT (THA) 72-64-68.
207 - P. Ghulfam (IND) 73-68-66, Gaganjeet BHULLAR (IND) 68-69-70.
209 - Thaworn WIRATCHANT (THA) 69-71-69, Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 70-70-69.
210 - Ron HARVEY Jnr (CAN) 66-75-69, Shamim KHAN (IND) 71-68-71. 211 - Ashok KUMAR (IND) 74-68-69, SIDDIKUR (BAN) 74-67-70, Rahil GANGJEE (IND) 73-67-71, Stephen LEWTON (ENG) 72-73-66, Rikard KARLBERG (SWE) 67-70-74.
Selected scores
214 - Kiradech APHIBARNRAT (THA) 73-70-71
217 - Mardan MAMAT (SIN) 72-71-74
Source: AFP
