Veer Ganapathy fires 9-under to share top spot with Binu after round 3

Mysuru, Aug 10 (PTI) Local player Veer Ganapathy offered the most compelling story of the day, storming into joint lead with a sensational nine-under 61 after the third round of the Mysuru Open 2024 here on Saturday.

Shaurya Binu returned a six-under 64 to give Veer company at the top of the pack with a total of 18-under 192.

A bunch of seven golfers trail the leaders by three shots and are placed tied third. This group includes Amardeep Malik, Angad Cheema, Pukhraj Singh Gill, and Aryan Roopa Anand, all having shot scores of 65, as well as Aman Raj (66), overnight leader Arjun Sharma (68) and Kartik Sharma (67).

The 17-year-old Veer (63-68-61), who was overnight 12th, sank five birdies from a range of eight to 15 feet and recovered well from the rough a few times with his exceptional wedge shots.

The left-handed amateur’s bogey-free 61 thus matched the lowest round of the tournament, a score also shot by Kshitij Naveed Kaul in round two and Saptak Talwar earlier in round three.

Veer, the son of former Indian professional Rahul Ganapathy, will be playing in the final round leader group in his very first appearance in a professional event.

The three-time winner on the junior tour is now chasing history as he looks to become the youngest winner on the PGTI at the age of 17 years and 139 days.

The record is currently held by Karandeep Kochhar who won on the PGTI in 2016 at the age of 17 years and 163 days.

Ganapathy is also in line to become the third amateur to win on the PGTI.

Later, Binu (64-64-64) shot a third straight 64 to move up one spot to tied first.

Shaurya, who won his maiden title on the PGTI earlier this year, drained seven birdies in exchange for a lone bogey. PTI UNG 7/21/2024 PDS PDS