Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen will take a four stroke lead into the final day of the Kolkata Challenge at Royal Calcutta Golf Club, as he closes in on a maiden Challenge Tour victory.
The Dane impressed for the third straight day, recording five birdies and one bogey on his way to a four under par round of 68 to move to 15 under par for the week, four shots clear of home favourite Rahil Gangjee and Swede Mikael Lindberg who share second.
The 24-year-old, who currently sits 31st in the Road to Mallorca Rankings, recognises that tomorrow could be an important milestone in his career.
“A win wouldn’t only be nice for my season, but it would be my first professional win, so I know how important it is,” he said. “But my plan is just to go out and try to execute as well as I can and we’ll see where I end up.
“My game plan has been working really well so far. If and when adversity strikes tomorrow, which undoubtedly it will at some point, it’s just about being able to handle it. I’ll keep plugging away and staying patient.”
Neergaard-Petersen turned professional less than 12 months ago and has recorded five top ten finishes in that time, including one on the DP World Tour.
The Dane could climb to the top of the season-long Rankings with a win, and after carding two birdies in his final three holes to jump four strokes clear, thinks his patience was rewarded late on day three.
“I’m really pleased with how I handled myself today,” he added. “I got off to somewhat of a slow start, probably only hitting one fairway and one green in regulation from the fifth hole to the tenth, but I managed to play those in even par.
“Then it was nice to get a couple of putts to drop down the stretch. I tried to stay as patient as possible.
“Some of the pins really suck you in to going for them, so my game plan all week has been to hit on the fat side of the green and just trust that I’m going to make some putts from ten to 20 feet, and I was able to do that today.”
Finland’s Tapio Pulkkanen is five shots off the lead and occupies fourth place after firing a six under par round of 66. Six players share fifth place, including India’s Angad Cheema and Veer Ahlawat, Englishman David Horsey, Frenchman Alexander Levy, Scotsman Daniel Young and Jamal Hossain from Bangladesh.
Meanwhile Conor Purcell and Gary Hurley had days to forget as they fell out of contention.
Purcell is back in a share of 51st on one-under after a round of 74 while Hurley is a shot further back in 59th after a disappointing 76.
The final round of the Kolkata Challenge gets under way at 7:30am local time with Neergaard-Petersen teeing off at 9:31am alongside Lindberg and Gangjee.
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