Royal Nepal Golf Club pro Khadka carded three-under 69 on Wednesday for a total of six-under 210 and maintained a six-stroke lead over second-place Umesh Nagarkoti. [break]
Nagarkoti produced the best card of the day with four-under 68 to remain in the second place with a total score of even-par 216. Ramesh Adhikari played one-under 71 on Wednesday to go up to third with a score of one-over 217.
Nepal No 2 pro Khadka played two-under 34 on the front nine and added one-under 35 on the back nine to take sole lead on the penultimate day of the 10th and final event of Surya Nepal Golf Tour 2012-13. He saved pars on the first seven holes and carded birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to take the turn at two-under 34. On the back nine, he suffered a bogey on the 10th hole before carding birdies on the 12th and 17th holes.
Nagarkoti played one-under 35 on the front nine and played an impressive three-under 33 on the back nine with the help of five birdies and a bogey. After starting the day with a bogey, he carded birdies on the fifth, seventh, 11th, 12th and 18th holes.
On the other hand, Sanjay Lama, who was joint leader in the first two rounds, faltered on the third day as he played a round of five-over 77. He dropped to fourth with a total score of two-over 218. He played even-par 36 on the front nine before faltering to five-over on the back nine.
Ramesh Nagarkoti (77) and Surya Sharma (74) shared the fifth position with the scores of four-over 220. Gokarna Club duo Pashupati Sharma (76) and Deepak Acharya (73) are tied for seventh at six-over 222. Deepak Thapa Magar (74), Mani Rai (73) and Yelamber Singh Adhikari (71) shared the ninth position at eight-over 224. Purna Sharma dropped further down to 12th at 226 after a disappointing round of eight-over 80. Ram Thapa (74) is 13th with a total score of 11-over 227.
In the amateur section, Dinesh Prajapati carded one-under 71 to climb atop the leader-board with a total score of eight-over 224. Dinesh opened a two-stroke lead over overnight leader Bishnu Sharma, who played a round of five-over 77 for a total score of 226. Sunil KC (73) is third at 229.
The final round will be played on Thursday. The winning pro of the event will receive Rs 88,000 while the runner-up will bag Rs 55,000.
After the tournament, the top 30 pros in the Order of Merit and the top 10 amateurs in Nepal Golf Association´s ranking will qualify for the Surya Nepal Masters scheduled for May 8 to 11 at the Gokarna Golf Club.
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