Defending champion Neeraj Tamang topped the third day of the Surya Nepal Kathmandu Open Golf with an excellent score of 4 under 64.
After 54 holes at the Royal Nepal Golf Course on Thursday, Neeraj took the overall lead with a 10-under 194. He has beaten amateur Sadbhava Acharya by one stroke.
Sadbhav also scored a 4-under 64 to finish second with a 9-under 195 overall. Bishnu Prasad Sharma, the leader at the start of the second day's play, had a poor performance of 1 over 69. He finished third overall with a score of 6 under 198.
Neeraj got off to a good start as he reached the top spot. He birdied the second, fourth, sixth and seventh holes. He finished the front nine at 3-under 31 after missing a shot on the ninth hole. After this, he birdied the 10th and 11th holes and bogeyed the 12th hole to score 1 under 33 on the back nine. Sadbhav hit 4 birdies while building a bogey-free score card. The front nine finished at 1 under 33 and the back nine at 3 under 31. He birdied the fourth, tenth, 13th and 17th holes.
Vishnu played the front nine 1 under 33. He birdied the first, third and ninth holes, but wasted shots on the fifth and eighth holes. He lost his rhythm on the back nine, but after birdieing the 10th hole, he bogeyed consecutively on the 15th, 16th and 17th holes and ended the game at 2 over 36.
Dinesh Prajapati remains fourth overall with a score of 5 under 199. He shot a 1-under 67 on Thursday. Amateur golfer Rahul BK finished fifth overall with a 2-under 202. He finished with a 1-under 67.
Veteran pro Deepak Magar shot an even-par 68 to finish sixth overall with a 1-under 203. Nepal's number one pro Bhuvan Nagarkoti has moved up to seventh place overall with an even par 204. He shot a 1-under 67 on the third day. Vasantraj Gurung, Rame Magar and Pradeep Kumar Lama who shot 2 over 206 overall finished in joint eighth position. Vasant and Ramey shot 3-under 65 and Pradeep shot an even-par 68. The final 18 holes will be played on Friday. The winner will receive a prize of Rs 150,000, second runner-up Rs 85,000 and third runner-up Rs 68,000.
