Ahmedabad, March 14 Saptak Talwar and Dhruv Sheoran shared the top spot after the third round of the DP World PGTI's USD 300,000 (INR 2.7 crore) Indorama Ventures Open Golf Championship 2026, held here on Saturday.
Saptak (68-71-69) and Dhruv (69-69-70) were joint leaders with identical scores of eight-under 208. Saptak's flawless round of 69 helped him move up three positions, while Dhruv's 70 saw him gain one position on the third day.
Manu Gandas fired a 67, the joint lowest score of the day, to move up 11 positions to third place with a score of seven-under 209.
Aryaman Aditya Mohan also shot the day's joint lowest of 67 to end the round in a tied fourth place with Arjun Prasad (69) and Clement Sordet (71) of France.
Saptak, who was tied fourth overnight and two shots behind the leader, announced himself as a contender with his flawless round on Saturday.
Talwar, from Greater Noida and a winner on the DP World PGTI last year, made three birdies from distances of 10 to 20 feet on the fourth, eighth and 12th holes.
Saptak, who last played at Kalhaar in 2023, said, "I've been getting a lot of birdie opportunities. However, my putter hasn't cooperated as much as I would have liked. I managed to avoid major mistakes, with just three bogeys over the first three days. I feel my game is on the right track."
"This course is quite challenging, and I feel I've done well with my tee shots so far."
Dhruv Sheoran, who was third overnight and one shot behind the leader, also continued to make steady progress like Saptak. Sheoran, based in Gurugram and a winner of three titles, collected four birdies while making two bogeys on Saturday. He made a few putts from distances of 10 to 15 feet on the third day.
Dhruv, who was part of the Rajasthan Regals team that won DP World PGTI's 72 The League last week, said, "I stuck to my game plan. I kept telling myself to keep the ball in play. When the wind picked up, I kept the ball under the wind. So, I adapted well to the conditions. I'm excited to compete in the fourth round."
"I will draw on my experiences from 72 The League over the past two weeks. The team competition in the League has prepared me well to play in tight situations."
The joint leaders Jhared Hack and Brijesh Kumar returned scores of 74 and 76 respectively, dropping them down the leaderboard. While Jhared was placed tied seventh at five-under 211, Brijesh occupied the 16th position with a score of three-under 213.