Bangladesh’s Siddikur fires 65 to be the sole first round leader at The DGC Open
Familiarity with the DGC as a venue was the common thread between the top four, as three of them had won their maiden Asian Tour title at this venue.
India’s Shankar Das produced the day’s joint best score of five-under-67 to move within two shots of the lead at 10-under-206, while Bangladesh’s Md Siddikur Rahman came up with a steady two-under-70 to remain at the top after round three of the inaugural City Bank American Express Dhaka Open, a US$ 60,000 event.
Siddikur was ahead by two as his three-day total read 12-under-204.
The event is being tri-sanctioned by the Asian Development Tour (ADT), Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) and Bangladesh Professional Golfers Association (BPGA).
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Siddikur Rahman (68-66-70), the overnight leader by five shots, was not at his best on Friday but still managed to hold on to the lead thanks to three birdies which came at the expense of a lone bogey at his home course, the Kurmitola Golf Club.
Siddikur, who represented Bangladesh at the 2016 Rio Olympics, looked solid on the front-nine as he sank two birdies. However, on a day that saw him struggle with the putter, Rahman wasn’t able to capitalize on his lead as he only managed a birdie and a bogey on the back-nine.
The 33-year-old Siddikur said, “I’m happy with today’s effort even though I didn’t play as well as I did in the first two rounds. My putting was not up to the mark today since I missed a lot of chances on the greens. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that came my way.
“However, I’m still quite well-placed and will be looking to post a score of four to five under on the final day in order to seal the title. I definitely have the home course advantage but I feel it’s not a huge advantage as some of the others on the leaderboard such as Shankar Das and Shamim Khan have also played a lot of golf at the KGC over the years.”
Shankar Das (71-68-67), who was overnight joint second, emerged as the most serious challenger to Siddikur on day three. Shankar, who kept landing it close to the pins through the day, made six birdies and a bogey, all on the front-nine. He then didn’t give anything away on the back-nine, making pars on all the holes.
Das said, “I struck my 3-wood really well today and hardly missed anything on the greens. It’ll not be easy to dislodge Siddikur on his home turf, but I’ll have to make a good start in the final round if I have to exert any pressure on him.”
India’s Shamim Khan (70), Sweden’s Malcolm Kokocinski (71) and Bangladesh’s Akbar Hossain (71) shared the third spot at five-under-211.
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