Veer Ahlawat put himself in contention by moving to tied third place despite a late bogey on the third day of the USD 1.5 million BNI Indonesian Masters here on Saturday.
Ahlawat, who started the day at 9-under, was 3-under through 12 holes in the third round. At 12-under he was three behind Thailand’s Sarit Suwannarut who moved to the top of the leader board on 15-under after 14 holes.
Thailand’s Kosuke Hamamoto was two behind with three to play, while Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell was three back with two remaining along with Ahlawat, who has four holes left.
Karandeep Kochhar, 4-under through 17 and Anirban Lahiri 1-under through 16, were at 9-under and tied ninth on a good day.
Gaganjeet Bhullar (70) was 7-under and tied 18th, while Ajeetesh Sandhu, even through 17 holes was 5-under and tied 24th. Honey Baisoya (72) was tied 30th, while Udayan Mane (72) and S Chikkarangappa (70) were tied 40th and tied 43rd, respectively.
Rashid Khan (75) had dropped to tied 67th.
SSP Chawrasia, M Dharma, Khalin Joshi, and Aman Raj missed the cut.
Ahlawat, who has been doing well on the Asian Tour was bogey-free through 13 holes, and with stoppage looking imminent owing to lightning, he had just bogeyed the 14th when play was stopped.
Lahiri, starting his third with eight pars had three birdies against two bogeys in the next five holes. He parred the 14th and 15th when play was stopped.
England’s Lee Westwood, a three-time winner of this event, made full use of a moving day, posting his second successive 66 to reach 10 under and take the clubhouse lead.
Current Asian Tour Order of Merit leader Sihwan Kim from the United States was four under playing his last hole with a whole host of permutations for Sunday. Chinese-Taipei’s Chan Shih-chang, Thailand’s Jazz Janewattananond, Phachara Khongwatmai, and Sadom Kaewkanjana, Canada’s Richard T. Lee and Scott Vincent from Zimbabwe are all in contention and need to win on Sunday to have a chance of toppling Kim.