Gaurav Ghei displayed an improved performance to shoot four-under 68 for a tied 27th place after the third round of the TCL Classic tournament at the Yalong Bay golf club in Sanya, China on Saturday.
Last year's Mercuries Masters champion Ghei, the only Indian left in the fray, had seven birdies, one bogey and one double bogey in his card for a huge improvement upon his tied 55th place effort yesterday.
Ghei, currently seventh on UBS Asian Tour Order of Merit with USD 87,044 in earnings, had rounds of 70 and 69 on first two days and got better by one more shot on the third day to finish with 68.
Today, he started the round with two pars and then met with a double bogey on third. But he quickly made up with a birdie on fourth. A bogey followed on sixth, but that was the last blemish from him. Ghei then birdied three in a row from seventh to ninth and then had another hat-trick of birdies from 12th to 14th before finishing with four pars.
Ghei has missed just one cut in seven starts on European 2006-07 season since the HSBC Champions last November. His best has been tied sixth placed at Johnnie Walker Classic in Phuket two weeks ago. He was also tied 23rd in Enjoy Astro Indonesia Open.
Meanwhile, Chapchai Nirat, who had a six-shot lead midway through the event, continued to hold a five-shot lead with one more round to go. After a third round of four-under 68, with seven birdies and three bogeys, Chapchai is now 21-under.
The 23-year-old Thai dropped three bogeys in his last five holes besides getting a birdie, too, but still held a big five-shot lead over second placed Taichi Teshima (65) and Miles Tuncliffe (66). The duo is 16-under.