Vijay Kumar well-placed

Vijay Kumar looked all set to defend his Hindu Open title leading from wire to wire as he opened a lead of four strokes on top of the leaderboard despite shooting a one-under 71 on the third day of the Rs. 7.5 lakh tournament.

At the par-72, 6654-yard Cosmopolitan Club course on Friday, Vijay aggregated nine-under 207 for three rounds and was followed by his old nemesis Gaurav Ghei, who jumped up to second place after a 3-under 69 round. Amish Jaitha and Mukesh Kumar were tied for the third place at three-under 213.

The best card of the day was submitted by Feroz Ali, whose four-under 68 placed him at joint-eighth.

Vijay Kumar's 71 was good enough to hand him a four-stroke lead as he enters the final round with a good chance of successfully defending his title Saturday. The highest prize money earner on the Wills Sport Golf Tour for the past three seasons, Vijay had a roller coaster round, with a birdie on the 2nd preceding a double bogey on the 5th, where he messed up his drive off the tee. He recovered well with an eagle on the 6th, set up by a diver and 6-iron, followed by an eight feet putt. Vijay then went on to bogey the 12th and birdie the 16th. "I putted badly today, but am confident I will win tomorrow," said Vijay. The golfer's round included 29 putts and he found just 13 greens in regulation.

Gaurav Ghei enjoys a special relationship with the Cosmopolitan Club course and the Hindu Open. The Delhi-based pro has the enviable record of winning thrice in five appearances here. Today, Gaurav recorded birdies on the first, second, sixth, seventh tenth, 12th and 16th while he dropped shots on the fifth, eighth, ninth and 13th to finish the day at three-under 69.

Qualifying School winner of the current season, Amish Jaitha seems keen to prove to the world that he is second to nobody. The Pune based golfer carded a hat trick of birdies from the fifth onwards but followed it by back-to-back bogeys on the eighth and ninth. On his return journey, Jaitha birdied the 16th and 18th. However his round was ruined to an extent by a double bogey on the 13th. "I should get out of this habit of messing up my card with the odd double bogey. Otherwise, I am happy with the way I played," said Jaitha who brought in his second successive card of two-under 70.

Mukesh Kumar slipped down by one position from his overnight joint-second spot, after carding a level-par 72. The winner of the last season's "Player of the Year" award birdied the sixth, 13th and 16th and dropped shots on the fifth, 15th and 17th. "I missed short putts on the 15th and 17th. However, I plan to give it my best shot tomorrow," was what Mukesh had to say after the round.

Feroz Ali, runner-up at this event last year, regained his form a little late in the day. The 1998 Wills Indian Open champion had a birdie-eagle start to his round, following which he birdied the seventh and 14th holes. What would have been an error-free round was marred by his tee shot on the final hole hitting a tree and causing the Calcuttan to drop a shot. "My putting has let me down this entire week," said Feroz, who has recorded 35, 31 and 27 putts in the three-rounds he has played so far. Feroz's tally thus far is one-under 215.

'Rookie of the Year' Harmeet Kahlon carded a three-under 69. He began in amazing fashion by making successive birdies on the first, second, third and fourth holes, and followed it up with further birdies on the 10th, 11th and 16th. His bogeys came on the 5th, 7th, 9th and 18th. Kahlon is placed joint fifth along with with Sanjay Kumar and Shiv Prakash.

Chandradasa, Rohana lead amateurs: After overnight leader Sandeep Syal dropped out due to prior commitments to play in Korea, Anura Rohana and Tissa Chandradasa, Sri Lanka's top two amateurs, assumed joint-lead among the amateurs with a tally of six-over 222.

SCORES (after 54 holes): 207 _ Vijay Kumar (68,68,71); 211 _ Gaurav Ghei (71,71,69); 213 _ Amish Jaitha (73,70,70), Mukesh Kumar (72,69,72); 214 _ Harmeet Kahlon (70,75,69), Sanjay Kumar (71,73,70), Shiv Prakash (71,72,71); 215 _ Feroz Ali (75,72,68), Indrajit Bhalotia (71,75,69), Basad Ali (72,69,74); 217 _ Rafiq Ali (74,72,71); 218 _ DS Raghuvanshi (71,76,71), Amit Dube (72,71,75);

Amateurs: 222_Tissa Chandradasa(72,77,73), Anura Rohana(73,74,75), 147_CV Yudhvir(71,76,77).