Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia, popularly known as "Chip-putt Chowrasia" on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour because of his short game prowess, did not even need to make the putts as he chipped-in for birdies on three holes and snatched the lead from Ashok Kumar on the penultimate day of the Rs One million DHL Challenge, being played at the Bombay Presidency Golf Club in Chembur, on Thursday.
In the most unique event on the Hero Honda Indian Golf Tour, Chowrasia accumulated +3 points on the third day to tally +21, one stroke ahead of overnight leader Ashok Kumar.
The 21-year-old Delhi golfer could manage only one point today. Chowrasia's Kolkata compatriot Yusuf Ali returned the best card of the tournament so far, a +12, which helped him to third place at +18, while defending champion Mukesh Kumar was lurking dangerously behind in fourth place at +17.
The DHL Challenge is being played on the modified stableford format, the first time such a format has been employed on the Indian Tour. A par is worth 0 points, a birdie +2, an eagle +5 and an albatross +8. On the other hand, a bogey is worth -1 point, double bogey -2, a triple bogey -3 and so on.
In the morning, both Ashok and Chowrasia started badly and went neck and neck. Ashok bogied the par-5 first hole after pulling his second shot way left of the green and three-putted the second. Chowrasia parred the first, three-putted for a bogey on the second and dropped another point on the third when his second shot went over the green and he missed his chip-putt.
Ashok birdied the par-5 fourth, but it was Chowrasia who raised the excitement when he birdied the fifth and sixth holes by chipping-in from 20 and 30 yards respectively. Ashok then birdied the seventh when he nailed his second shot to less than two feet. Both made bogies on the eighth after missing the green to the left.
On the back nine, Chowrasia made a bogey on the 11th, but bounced back with a birdie -- his third chip-in of the day -- on the 12th hole. He closed out with a bogey on 13th and a birdie on the par-5 16th hole.
"One point means absolutely nothing. I will have to play a normal game and keep making birdies to have any chance tomorrow," said the 24-year-old who has won only one title previously -- the Padampat Singhania Open in 2000-01 season.
Ashok made birdies on the 16th and 18th holes on his back nine, but a double bogey on the 14th proved costly for the rookie golfer. "All is not lost yet. I am going to fight it out till the last hole," said the fourth-ranked golfer on the Tour.
Yusuf Ali did the star turn of the day when he picked up 12 points in a round studded with one eagle, five birdies and only three bogies. By the seventh hole, he had made four birdies, and missed one on the sixth from less than two feet. However, the highlight of his round was the eagle on the 18th, where he drained a difficult 12-footer putt after reaching the green with a 5-iron second shot.
Leading scores (after 54 holes): +21 _ Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia (+10+8+3); +20 _ Ashok Kumar (+12+7+1); +18 _ Yusuf Ali (+6+0+12); +17 _ Mukesh Kumar (+7+4+6); +13 _ Shamim Khan (+5+5+3); +10 _ Devendra Patel (+7+2+1), Amit Dube (+2+9-1); +9 _ Uttam Singh Mundy (-2+8+3), Mohd Islam (+2+5+2); +7 _ Gaurav Ghei (+5-5+7), Digvijay Singh (+3+1+3); +6 _ Rafiq Ali (-2+3+5), Zai Kipgen (+1+0+5), Naman Dawar (+3+4-1); +5 _ Feroz Ali (+6-5+4), S Madaiah (-1+4+2), Bhoop Singh (+4+5-4), Mohd Salim (+1+8-4).