Gunasegaran closes in on Olympic Open victory
Musthofid, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Olympic Open golf championship still has one round to go, but P. Gunasegaran of Malaysia looks certain to win the competition after finishing the third round on Thursday with a 10-stroke lead over his nearest competitors.
Gunasegaran put behind a disappointing second round on Wednesday to card a four-under-par 68 for a five-under-par 211 after three rounds at the Cikarang Golf & Country Club in Bekasi, West Java.
Defending champion Stephen Atako Lindskog of Sweden and Chen Yuan Chi of Chinese Taipei followed in a distant second place with overall scores of five-over 221.
Lindskog, who won the event in 1999 and 2001, shot a 71 on Thursday, making him one of only four players to shoot under par for the day. The other two were I Ketut Sugiartha and Sukamdi.
Ketut shot a 69 and Sukamdi a 71 on Thursday, leaving them struggling in a tie for 17th place at 16-over-par 232.
Gunasegaran's impressive performance in the third round leaves him virtually assured of victory. "Guna is winning," teammate S. Moorthy said in a media release.
"It's almost impossible to catch up," said a spectator, gazing at the leaderboard.
Golf columnist Avie K. Utomo also agreed that the tournament was Gunasegaran's to win, but he did not completely rule out an upset.
"Anything can happen, though I must admit that Guna is currently placed to take the championship," he told The Jakarta Post.
"All he has to do in the final round is to play safe. He can't afford to fall into a series of mistake. Ten strokes is really a huge advantage," he said.
Maan Nasim, Indonesia's top professional golfer, is still struggling in fourth place at six-over-par 222.
His third round score of three-over was four strokes better than his disastrous second round, which saw him lose the tournament lead.
Ilyassyak and Burhan Bora are the other two local golfers currently sitting in the top ten. Ilyassyak is two strokes behind Maan, while Burhan is sitting in ninth place at 10-over-par 226.
"They don't appear to be in good physical shape. Cikarang requires good stamina," Avie, who is the secretary-general of the Indonesian Professional Golf Association (PGPI), said of the discouraging performance by the local golfers.
"They also lack tournament experience," he added.
2000 Olympic Open champion Wang Ter Chang of Chinese Taipei is currently tied for sixth place with M. Sasidaran and Danny Chia, both of Malaysia, at nine-over-par 225.
Despite shooting a 12-over in the third round, Cho Min-am of South Korea remains the top amateur in the tournament, which features 89 pro and amateur golfers.
The final round of the Rp 450 million (US$50,000) tournament will take place on Friday.