Harmeet Kahlon soared to the lead with an impressive four-under 68 but SSP Chowrasia lurks just two strokes behind after the penultimate round of the Rs 50 Lakh EMAAR-MGF in Bangalore on Thursday.

With a round of 68, Harmeet took his 54-hole total to 207, while Chowrasia carded two-under 70 for a three-day total of 209 in the third leg of the 2006-07 season on the Professional Golf Tour of India.

Harmeet was impressive in his front nine with birdies on the par-four third hole, where he hit his second shot to just a foot away from the hole, the par-five fifth and the par-three eighth holes to make the turn at three-under.

The birdie streak continues as Harmeet picked up a shot each on the 10th and 14th holes before dropping his first shot of the day on the par-three 15th.

He picked up yet another birdie, on the 17th but a bogey on the last --- result of a missed chip and putt for par -- resulted in a round of 68.

Chowrasia, on the other hand, started the day with a birdie on the third and followed it up with another on the fifth before he faltered momentarily to drop a stroke on the sixth hole after driving into the right water hazard.

He made the turn at one-under for the day but found the hazard again on the 10th where he made his only other bogey of the day before firing birdies on the 12th and 17th holes.

''I did not hit the ball as well as I would have liked to today, but I will go out and play my game tomorrow,'' said the in-form Chowrasia.

Gurbaaz Mann and Digvijay Singh returned identical rounds of 71 to be tied third at six-under 210.

Ashok Kumar (211) carded two-under 70 and is at fifth place, while local favourite and overnight leader C Muniyappa struggled on the course and carded a 74 to drop to sixth place.

Scores (after 54 holes): 207: Harmeet Kahlon (67,72,68) 209: SSP Chowrasia (71,68,70) 210: Gurbaaz Mann (70,69,71), Digvijay Singh (73, 66,71) 211: Ashok Kumar (72,69, 70) 212: Chinnaswamy Muniyappa (72,66,74) 213: AS Lehal(73,72,68) 214: Arjun Singh [Images] (71,75,68) 215: Sandip Syal (74,72,69), Randhir S Ghotra (71, 71, 73) 216: Mukesh Kumar (70,72, 74), Gaganjeet Bhullar (71,71,74), Amardip Singh Malik (66,75, 75), Amadeep Johl (69,71, 76) 217: Gurki Shergill (74, 71,72) 218: Chiragh Kumar (72,72, 74), Md Islam (74,72,72), Vivek Bhandari (70,76,72) Harinder Gupta (65,74,79).