Dubai-born Rayhan Thomas edged closer to a first professional victory after carding a third round three under par 69 to climb up to a share of second at the Coimbatore Open.
The 24-year-old, who turned professional earlier this year after graduating from the University of Oklahoma, is playing his first PGA Tour of India event this week after securing an invite from tournament organisers.
Thomas has grabbed the opportunity with both hands, carding a 70 and 67 in the opening two rounds before backing that up with a 69 earlier today, which included four birdies and one bogey, to sit just one stroke off Akshay Sharma at the top of the leaderboard.
“Round three was a grind, but I was able to put myself in a decent spot for tomorrow,” said Thomas adter his round.
“The wind wasn’t too bad, it got windy in some spots, but it was nowhere near as bad as I thought it would – everyone was telling me this place gets really windy.
“It was a fun day. I’m just happy to get something close to the lead and it should be fun tomorrow. I’ve got a chance to win, it’s exciting.”
Sharma held on to his second round lead after bouncing back superbly following a difficult start to the third round at Coimbatore Golf Club.
The two-time winner on the PGTI started strongly with a birdie on his second hole, but quickly dropped three shots in four holes from the fifth to let the chasing pack in.
Instead of letting that poor run get the better of him, Sharma responded brilliantly with three birdies coming home to ensure he held on to the outright lead ahead of tomorrow’s final round.
Thomas will get his final round underway at 9.50am local time, alongside Sharma and Sachin Baisoya, who carded a third round 67 to join Thomas in second place.
