It turned out to be one rollercoaster ride that Baek Seuk-Hyun was unlikely to forget in a hurry.
The plump and heavy 20-year-old Korean made light of the sudden downswing in his fortunes on the back-nine and provided a dramatic twist at the end of the third round to snatch back his overnight one-stroke lead in the $1.25 million Hero Honda Indian Open golf championship.
Watched by a growing Saturday crowd at the Delhi Golf Club course, Baek fired four birdies on the last five holes to sign off, in style, a highly eventful card of four-under 68 for a tally of 10-under 206.
On a day when Manav Jaini (71) and Mukesh Kumar (70) took turns to be among the joint leaders but were tied third, overnight co-leader England's Simon Griffiths faded away following a poor 78.
As things stand, Baek leads Sweden's Rikard Karlberg by a shot following a final-hole birdie. Jaini and Mukesh, along with Australia's Unho Park and South Africa's Jbe Kruger are four strokes off the leader. It appears to be anybody's race, with the final day holding prospects of an exciting finish.
Jaini and Mukesh, after looking good on the front-nine, faltered on the home-nine. Jaini. Together at six-under, the duo will be in the same group on the final day.
Improved show
The day also saw Ashok Kumar, Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa come up with improved performances to share the 12th spot. At four-under, the trio will be required to make a stupendous charge in order to be in contention for the title on Sunday.
Baek, who picked up a shot on the front-nine to move to seven-under, went two strokes ahead of the field for the first time with a stunning ‘eagle' on the 11th hole, where he holed out from 152 yards after a firmly struck pitching wedge.
Soon thereafter, the script appeared to go terribly wrong for Baek. A bogey on the 12th followed a double-bogey on the 13th at a time when Jaini, playing a group ahead, birdied the 14th to join Karlberg and Kruger in the lead at seven-under.
Unfazed, Baek responded with birdies on the 14th and 15th to claw back into joint lead. In the meantime, Jaini and Kruger fell back. Baek continued his relentless run with a 45-foot birdie on the 17th and broke away from co-leader Karlberg with a short birdie on the 18th.
“I'll just play my game and not look around (on Sunday). I just want to enjoy my game. Go for birdies and hit some good shots,” said Baek when asked about his approach on the final day.
Karlberg, after bogeys on the third and fourth holes, collected six birdies, including three from the last five holes to stay among the front-runners.
Kruger, who fired an “eagle” on either side of the turn, was one of the joint leaders when he came on the 18th tee. However, the South African “duffed” his approach shot to just 20 yards and then missed a long par-putt to tumble to the joint third spot.
The scores (Indians unless specified): Baek Seuk-Hyun (Kor) (68, 70, 68) 206; Rikard Karlsberg (Swe) (70, 69, 68) 207; Manav Jaini (70, 69, 71), Mukesh Kumar (70, 70, 70), Unho Park (Aus) (72, 68, 70) and Jbe Kruger (RSA) (68, 73, 69) 210.
Other Indians: Ashok Kumar (69, 73, 70), Arjun Atwal (73, 69, 70), Jyoti Randhawa (72, 71, 69) 212; Shiv Kapur (71, 73, 69) 213; Digvijay Singh (73, 73, 68) 214; Shamim Khan (69, 72, 74), Chirag Kumar (70, 73, 72), Sanjay Kumar (68, 76, 71), Gaurav Pratap Singh (70, 74, 71) 215; Himmat Rai (70, 75, 71), Vikrant Chopra (72, 73, 71), Ali Sher (71, 75, 70) 216; Firoz Ali (71, 71, 76), Ranjit Singh (69, 77, 72) 218; Vijay Kumar (72, 73, 74), Harendra Gupta (72, 74, 73) 219; Sujjan Singh (73, 72, 76), Arshdeep Tiwana (75, 73, 73), Vishal Singh (75, 73, 73) 221; Rashid Khan (72, 74, 76), Amardip Malik (74, 72, 76) 222 and Khalin Joshi (A) (76, 70, 84) 230.
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