Gunasegaran closes in on Olympic Open victory
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.