Feroz Ali retains lead

On a cold, overcast day at the Gokarna Golf Club, none of the leadergroup players put pressure on overnight leader Feroz Ali as he continued to lead the Rs 900,000 Surya Nepal Masters after the third round on Friday.

In the 12th leg of the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour, the Calcutta-based Feroz, winner of the tournament in 1996, will go into the final round on Saturday at seven-under 209. Moving up to the second place was the surprise packet of the tournament, Mohammed Maqbool of Delhi, who shot his second successive one-under 71 to tally five-under 211.

First round leader, Uttam Singh Mundy was third at 213, while Gaurav Ghei moved to fourth place at two-under 214 with a 72. Amit Dube of Noida and twice Indian Open champion Ali Sher shot the day's best card of three-under 69.

Feroz, whose last victory on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour was almost a year back in Wills Western Open in Pune, would be looking for a rejuvenating victory.

"It's been a long time since I last won and I am itching to be back on the winner's podium. I missed winning last week at the HT ProGolf Kolkata, and hence a victory here would be welcome," he said after the round.

Feroz began the round disastrously with a double bogey on the first hole after driving the ball into the right jungle. Thereafter, he had moments of brilliance and utter mediocrity in a round that went up-and-down for him. On the par-4 fourth, he unleashed a mammoth drive to reach the green, but then three-putted for a par. On the fifth, he drained a monstrous 20-footer putt.

However, it was his tee shot on the par-4 14th which gave him his gameplan for Saturday. With a thick jungle on the right narrowing the fairway down, Feroz decided to play safe and use a six-iron to tee off. It went just about 150 yards and straight into the bush, from where he made a bogey.

"I just can't play safe. Whenever I try doing that I mess my game. It happened last week in Kolkata also. I am going to attack relentlessly tomorrow," said Feroz, when asked about his strategy.

Maqbool, who won the Wills Northern Open in Chandigarh in 1997, was as optimistic as Feroz.

"I have been playing and hope to continue in the same vein tomorrow. It's been several years since I had a good finish and I am not going to squander such a chance," said the Delhi pro, who shot a 71 on Friday despite making a double bogey on the 15th hole.

Among the Nepalese pros, Deepak Acharya was best placed at tied 15th place with a score of four-over 220 after a level-par 72 round. Purna Sharma plummeted down the leaderboard to tied 35th place after a disastrous 81.

BHANDARI STILL IN LEAD: CB Bhandari continued to lead the amateurs with yet another solid round of level-par 72. Bhandari aggregated five-over 221 and opened up an almost invincible lead of 12 strokes over the second placed Raj Pradhan.

SCORES (after 54 holes): 209 _ Feroz Ali (68,67,74); 211 _ Mohd Maqbool (69,71,71); 213 _ Uttam Singh Mundy (65,73,75); 214 _ Gaurav Ghei (73,69,72); 215 _ Mukesh Kumar (72,72,71), Shiv Prakash (70,74,71), Naman Dawar (70,72,73), Harmeet Kahlon (70,72,73), Vijay Kumar (72,69,74), Sanjay Kumar (68,73,74); 216 _ Digvijay Singh (70,70,76); 218 _ Jaiveer Virk (73,71,74); 219 _ Rahil Gangjee (67,76,76)