Indonesia Open: India’s Veer Ahlawat surges to tied 15th place

India's Veer Ahlawat made a sharp upward move as he carded a fine 5-under 67 and rose to tied 15th with one more round remaining

Jakarta: India’s Veer Ahlawat made a sharp upward move as he carded a fine 5-under 67 and rose to tied 15th with one more round remaining in the Indonesia Open here on Saturday.

Ahlawat, who was even par for the front nine, had five birdies and no bogeys on the back nine for a superb 5-under 31 on the second stretch.

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Among other Indians who made the cut, Viraj Madappa (69) was tied 22nd, up from overnight tied 25th, while Kartik Sharma (71) and S Chikkarangappa (71) were tied 34 and Rashid Khan (73) was placed tied 55th.

Nine other Indians missed the cut.

Thailand’s Nitithorn Thippong made a strong claim on the winner’s trophy, posting a score of five-under 67 to secure a five-shot lead going into the final round.

Nitithorn started the day in second place after rediscovering his form with a bogey-free round of 65 on Friday.
He dropped two shots during the third round on this day, but seven birdies were enough to consolidate his lead over Chang Wei-lun (69) of Chinese Taipei who holds a solo second place in the US$500,000 Asian Tour event.

In the third place, a strong group threatened to make inroads on the lead.

Lee Chieh-po of Chinese Taipei and England’s Steve Lewton were in a position to overtake the course record of 64.
Richard Lee of Canada, who shares third place with Chieh-po, Scott Hend of Australia and South Africa’s MJ Viljoen, who struggled with some nasal issues following recent surgery, also managed to get back on track to stay in contention.