Kshitij Naveed Kaul of Delhi, the overnight joint leader, posted a solid four-under 67 in the penultimate round to establish a two-shot lead at a total of 16-under 197 at The Poona Club Open, the INR 1 crore golf event being played at the Poona Club Golf Course here on Saturday. Ahmedabad’s Varun Parikh, a winner on the PGTI last month, matched the course record of eight-under 63 to climb into second place at 14-under 199 at the end of the third day of the event.

The PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat of Gurugram signed for an error-free 66 to move into tied third place at 13-under 200. Chandigarh’s Karandeep Kochhar, the overnight joint leader, struck a 70 on Friday that pushed him down to tied third along with Ahlawat. Divyansh Dubey (66) was the highest-placed among the Pune-based professionals as he was placed tied eighth at nine-under 204. Olympian and local lad Udayan Mane submitted a card of 70 to end the day in tied 25th at four-under 209.

The 23-year-old Kshitij Naveed Kaul (64-66-67), a three-time winner on the PGTI, made gains on the front nine thanks to three birdies coming at the expense of a lone bogey. He drove the Par-4 ninth green to earn a birdie with a two-putt there. Kaul’s top-notch driving and chipping saw him claim three more birdies on the back nine in exchange for a solitary bogey.

Kshitij, currently ranked 49th on the PGTI Order of Merit, thus continued on top of the leaderboard for the third day running. Kshitij, who won his maiden professional title at the Poona Club Golf Course in his rookie season in 2019, said, “It was a near-perfect day for me barring the two short putts that I missed. My short game was great, especially the chipping. I’ve made some quality ups and downs throughout the week.

“My good memories from this course are an added advantage going into the final round. The key in the final round would be to keep the ball on the fairway and putt it well. I’m a very calm person and I haven’t really worked at that. It comes to me naturally. That always helps me in crunch situations,” he said.

The 26-year-old Varun Parikh (67-69-63), a two-time winner on the PGTI and currently placed 17th on the PGTI Order of Merit, equalled the course record held by six other players — Kapil Kumar, Samarth Dwivedi, C. Muniyappa, Chikkarangappa S., S. Madaiah and Vijay Kumar — and jumped seven spots from his overnight tied ninth, courtesy his nine birdies that came at the cost of a lone bogey. Parikh’s round featured five consecutive birdies from the 10th to the 14th.

Varun hit a couple of his iron shots within five feet for birdies while he also sank a 40-footer on the 12th and drained three other putts from a range of 10 to 15 feet for birdies.

“This season my mindset has been to just have fun out there and not put pressure on myself. That has helped my game immensely. Today also was about enjoying my round and that’s exactly what I’ll look to do in the final round. Having a win under my belt this season also adds to my confidence,” Varun said. “I gave myself a lot of opportunities today by hitting my approach shots close and hitting almost all fairways and greens,” he said.

He will hope to repeat his performance on the final day of the event and hope to overcome the gap with the leader.