Swede Daniel Chopra eyed his maiden PGA Tour title after joining American Bob Estes at the top of the leaderboard in the unfinished Ginn sur Mer Classic.
The Swede joins Estes on the leaderboard after both birdie the par-five 11th to get to 16 under overall at the Ginn sur Mer Classic
MIAMI: Swede Daniel Chopra eyed his maiden PGA Tour title after joining American Bob Estes at the top of the leaderboard in the unfinished Ginn sur Mer Classic third round at Port St Lucie, Florida.
Chopra and Estes both birdied the par-five 11th to get to 16 under overall in the Tour’s penultimate event of the season before play was suspended on Saturday for the day in fading light.
A stroke off the pace when the rain-delayed second round was completed earlier,
Chopra drew level with Estes after gathering four birdies and a lone bogey in the first 11 holes.
Estes, joint pacesetter with fellow American Tommy Armour III for the first two rounds, ran up five birdies and three bogeys to remain tied for the lead with one day remaining.
American Briny Baird was two strokes back in third place after reeling off eight birdies in the first 15 holes, level with Japan’s Shigeki Maruyama, after 14.
In mainly damp and overcast conditions at Tesoro Club’s Palmer Course, Chopra and playing partner Estes engaged in a thrilling battle for the lead.
Estes faltered early when he three-putted for bogey at the first before recovering with an 18-foot birdie putt at the par-five second.
After Estes rolled in a nine-footer at the third to get to 15 under, Armour lipped out with his own birdie attempt there from seven feet.
Tour veteran Armour, hunting his third Tour title, then double-bogeyed the fourth. Chopra, born to a Swedish mother and Indian father, moved into a tie for the lead when he birdied the par-five second.
Like Estes, he picked up another shot at the third by rolling in a seven-footer before slipping back with a bogey at the fifth where he found the left rough off the tee.
Estes followed suit at the par-four sixth, dropping back to 14 under after missing the fairway off the tee while Chopra coaxed in a 17-foot birdie putt there to edge ahead.
Estes again rallied, a seven-footer at the par-five seventh putting him level with Chopra before he dropped his third shot of the day at the eighth.
The gutsy American regained a share of the lead by rolling in a 10-footer to birdie the par-four ninth where Chopra missed his own opportunity from seven feet.
After they each picked up another shot at the 11th, they both found the green off the tee at the par-three 12th before play was suspended for the day.
Atwal misses cut at Miccosukee
Form deserted Arjun Atwal when he needed it most and the Orlando-based Indian dropped a final hole bogey to miss the cut in the Miccosukee Championship, the final full-field golf event of the season on the Nationwide Tour.
Atwal needed to birdie his final hole to finish on the right side of the cut line but all he could do was to drop a shot on the par-four 18th to crash out of the tournament with a two-day total of 143.
The cut was set at one-under 141. Atwal’s second round of 70 comprised four birdies as against three bogeys.
Currently, 57th in the Money Leaders list, Atwal would have to wait and see if he manages to stay inside the top 60 and qualify for the Tour Championships next week.
After the season finale there, the top 25 would secure their 2008 PGA Tour cards, while 26-60 would continue to play on the Nationwide Tour.
Marc Turnesa moved into solo lead after the third day of action at the darkness-delayed tournament. Turnesa came up with a stellar eight-under 63, moving to a tournament record 12-under 130.
Randhawa stutters to tied 49th
Jyoti Randhawa faltered on a treacherous back stretch and turned in his worst card of the week to slide to tied 49th before bad light dropped early curtains on day three of the Mallorca Open golf tournament.
After rounds of 68 and 69, Randhawa went into the third round hoping to put in yet another sedate show to hang around for a good finish but the benign par-70 Pula Golf Club played hostile.
Just two birdies — against five bogeys and a double bogey too were all Randhawa had to show as he stuttered to a three-day total of two-over 212.
Indication of a bad day in the office came in the front nine itself. He did birdie the fourth and sixth holes but bogeyed the second, fifth and eighth.
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