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Gaganjeet Bhullar dropped his only bogey of the day on his closing hole, the ninth, but still made a significant upward move in the third round of the USD 2 million International Series Morocco.
The four-time IGPL winner and 11-time Asian Tour winner added a card of 4-under 69 to his first two rounds of 70-74, and went to T-27, up from his overnight T-47. Karandeep Kochar, also a tenth tee starter, had a tough second nine in his round of 2-under 71 and at a total of 4-under for three rounds he was T-43, while Ajeetesh Sandhu (74) had an up-and-down ride and finally slipped to T-47 from his previous T-25 place. Two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson managed to keep his nose ahead despite two late bogeys as he carded 4-under 69. He is now 15-under and one shot ahead of Thailand's 2022 champion Jazz Janewattananond (67) and Hong Kong's in-form Taichi Kho (68). While Watson, seeking his first win since the 2018 Travelers Championship on the PGA Tour, had a late stumble, Jazz rose with a birdie-eagle finish, and Kho closed with three pars. Watson, 47, the skipper of the RangeGoats GC on LIV Golf, was going great at 5-under through 12 holes before he ran into back-to-back bogeys on the 14th and the 15th at the par-73 Red Course of Royal Golf Dar Es Salam. Watson made some ground back with a birdie on the Par-4 drivable 17th hole. Bhullar, who started on the back nine, birdied the 10th and the 15th and then after the turn added further gains on the third, fifth and the eighth to reach 5-under. A bogey on the ninth pushed him down a few places. Kochhar had five birdies, including three in a row from the seventh to the ninth on his first nine. On the second nine, he had three bogeys against two birdies on the seventh and the eighth. Ajeetesh Sandhu had an interesting round with six birdies, six pars and six holes with a bogey or worse (one double bogey). Japan's Takanori Konishi shot a bogey-free 66 as he chases a first win outside his home country and joined Thailand's Pavit Tangkamolprasert (72) in tied fourth position at 12-under. Julien Sale (68) of France and Suteepat Prateeptienchai (70) of Thailand were tied sixth at 11-under. Mehdi El Fakori, the only Moroccan player to make the cut, shot his second successive three-under par 70 to improve to tied 33rd place at five-under par. (ANI)
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