Dhaka, January 26: Siddikur Rahman of Bangladesh stays in the hunt to win his second Asian Development Tour title at his home club after carding a two-under-par 70 in round three. He leads by two shots at the inaugural City Bank American Express Dhaka Open.
The 33-year-old golfer found the course conditions at Kurmitola Golf Club more difficult compared to the previous rounds. He carded three birdies against one bogey for a 12-under-par 204 total.
“I just can’t seem to make any birdies today. I wasn’t able to hit it close and my putting wasn’t as good as the last two days,” said Siddikur, who won his first ADT title in Bangladesh in 2011, also at the Kurmitola Golf Club.
“The course seems to be playing tougher by the day so I hope to stay focused tomorrow and try my best to win in front of my home crowd again. All the good memories I have had on this course are what inspired me so far. I hope to ride on that good vibes to put on a good showing tomorrow,” he added.
Conversely, his playing partner, India’s Shankar Das, took most of his chances as he scored six birdies against a lone bogey to card a 67. He finished the round in second place.
Shamim Khan of India (70), Malcolm Kokocinski of Sweden (71) and Akbar Hossain of Bangladesh (71) grabbed a share of third place, seven shots behind Siddikur.
The leading five players on the ADT Order of Merit at the end of the season will earn playing rights on the Asian Tour in 2019.
Leading third round scores:
204 – Siddikur RAHMAN (BAN) 68 66 70
206 – Shankar DAS (IND) 71 68 67
211 – Shamim KHAN (IND) 72 69 70, Malcolm KOKOCINSKI (SWE) 70 70 71, Akbar HOSSAIN (BAN) 70 70 71
212 – Sujjan SINGH (IND) 73 70 69, Veer AHLAWAT (IND) 72 70 70, Kapil KUMAR (IND) 72 69 71, Zamal Hossain MOLLAH (BAN) 72 69 71, Shakhawat SOHEL (BAN) 67 73 72
213 – Badal HOSSAIN (BAN) 76 70 67, Mithun PERERA (SRI) 71 71 71
215 – M DHARMA (IND) 74 72 69
216 – Honey BAISOYA (IND) 73 74 69, N. THANGARAJA (SRI) 71 74 71, Mathiam KEYSER (RSA) 72 72 72, Md Sajib ALI (BAN) 73 70 73, Arjun PRASAD (IND) 71 78 67
217 – Md Liton MIAH (BAN) 75 73 69, Tapy GHAI (IND) 73 72 72, Md. Ismail (BAN) 71 73 73, Rahul BAJAJ (IND) 71 68 78
218 – Jakiruzzaman JAKIR (BAN) 76 70 72, Naoki SEKITO (JPN) 73 74 71, Mohammad Sobhan (BAN) 74 73 71, Akshay SHARMA (IND) 73 72 73, Dulal HOSSAIN (BAN) 75 73 70
