Rahil Gangjee regains lead on Day 3 of Haryana Open 2024

First round leader Rahil Gangjee of Bengaluru regained the lead on day three of the ₹1 crore Haryana Open 2024 being played at the Panchkula Golf Club (PGC) following his solid round of five-under 67 that moved his total to 15-under 201.
Varun Parikh of Ahmedabad, who too had a great start to the week, like Rahil, but slipped in round two, also bounced back with a 67 on Saturday that placed him second at 14-under 202.
PGTI Ranking leader Veer Ahlawat of Gurugram, too, struck a 67 to make his way to tied third at 12-under 204. Pune’s Rohan Dhole Patil (67) and Chandigarh’s Akshay Sharma (70) joined Ahlawat in tied third position.
Angad Cheema (71) was the other Chandigarh-based player in the top-10 as he occupied tied sixth place at 11-under 205, along with Dhruv Sheoran and Sachin Baisoya.
Halfway leader Pukhraj Singh Gill (74) of Ludhiana dropped to tied ninth place at 10-under 206.
Rahil Gangjee (63-71-67), who was overnight tied third and two off the lead, had a mixed front-nine where he sank three birdies largely thanks to his excellent 3-wood shots and dropped two bogeys as a result of finding the rough on both occasions.
Gangjee, a winner of eight titles, including two on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) this year, then stepped on the gas on the back-nine by picking up four more birdies, including two conversions from a range of 10 to 18 feet. The 46-year-old, who originally hails from Kolkata, capitalised on all the four par-5s by scoring birdies on each of those holes.
Varun, a winner on the PGTI in 2022, then played some outstanding wedge shots for his three birdies on the back-nine that came in exchange for two bogeys. He left himself a two-footer for birdie on the 16th and made his second chip-in of the day for par on the 18th.
Last year’s champion Jairaj Singh Sandhu of Chandigarh ended the day in tied 26th place at four-under 212.