Indian-American Akshay Bhatia moves up to tied-4th in Charles Schwab Challenge
Akshay Bhatia shot a third round of 69, which included a rough finish with three bogeys in four holes towards the end on the third day of the Charles Schwab Challenge here in Texas, the USA. Yet, he moved up one place to be tied for fourth and is five shots behind co-leaders Ben Griffin and Matt Schmid, who, for the third straight day, shot identical scores. After 66-63 on the first two days, they added a 68 each to be 13-under.
Bhatia was tied for fourth alongside Robert MacIntyre (64) and Nick Hardy (67). All three players have a total score of eight under par. In between in sole third place was Rickie Fowler (67) at 9-under.
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler made a big jump as he shot 6-under 64 and rose to Tied-seventh and is now seven shots behind the leading duo. Scheffler is looking to win for the third time in as many starts after the CJ Cup and the PGA Championship.
Bhatia had a strong start to the round on the front nine and with consecutive birdies on the first two holes. He dropped a shot on the sixth hole and started the back nine with another set of birdies on the 10th and 11th holes.
Bhatia was 3-under at that stage. From the 14th to the 17th, Bhatia struggled to close the round as he dropped two shots on the 14th and 15th holes. He did manage to gain one of those shots back on the 16th hole, only to bogey the 17th for a score of one under par for the day.
Griffin had a roller-coaster start on the front nine with three birdies to begin his round, only to drop shots with a double bogey on the fifth and a bogey on the sixth. He recovered with a birdie on the eighth and one more on the 10th hole and kept a clean sheet for the last seven holes.
Matti Schmid, like his co-leader, started the round with three birdies and kept it clean for the front nine. On the back nine, Schmid had his first stumble with a bogey on the 11th hole. He was able to gain back that shot on the 16th hole, only to drop it on the 17th and close the round with a score of two under par.
Fowler carded a strong round of three under par on the third day to move into third place and is currently four shots behind the leaders. Fowler had one bogey and three birdies in his round.
Scheffler surged through the field on the third day as he moved up 42 places into tied seventh in the standings with his round of 64, six under par.
Scheffler started the round with a great showing on the front nine as he made four birdies. On the back nine, he continued with his impressive display with a birdie on the 10th and an eagle on the 11th to go 6-under. Then he dropped shots with consecutive bogeys on the 12th and 13th but gained back those on the 16th and 17th holes before dropping another shot on the 18th hole to close an otherwise phenomenal round of golf.
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