Bengaluru, Aug 12 (IANS): Golfer Khalin Joshi celebrated his 26th birthday with a stunning seven-under 64 that saw him rise to the tied second spot, just one stroke behind Miguel Carballo (67) of Dynamos at the Take Solutions Masters here on Saturday.
Khalin had seven birdies and hit a purple patch in the middle of the round, when he birdied four in a row from 9th to 12th. During that period he had five birdies in a stretch of six holes from 7th to 12th.
Sitting at 13-under 199 total, Khalin shared the second spot with Thai overnight leader Danthai Boonma, who had a five-shot lead on Friday. Danthai, however, scored two-over 73 to drop a place.
Carballo, who was tied second overnight, had a flawless 67 to get to 14-under 198 total (66-66-67) and is now in sight of his maiden Asian Tour title in his first season in Asia.
"I entered the round five shots back but I wasn't thinking much. I was just focused on playing my own game. Danthai made an easy birdie on the first but I told myself to just play my own game," Carballo said in a release.
"I have been playing good this year, both on the Asian Development Tour (ADT) and the Asian Tour. This is my first time playing in the final group on the Asian Tour. I wasn't feeling any pressure."
The tightly packed leaderboard had no less than 10 players within three shots of the leader and it had a strong Indian flavour with five of them from the host country.
Viraj Madappa carded five-under 66 to join compatriot S. Chikkarangappa (68) in the fourth spot at 12-under 201 total.
Honey Baisoya put himself in the spotlight with a hole-in-one on the ninth and it saw him card five-under 66, which included four birdies, an ace and one bogey. He was 11-under 202 alongside S.S.P. Chawrasia (68) at the sixth position.
There were six more Indians between tied 11th and tied 15th positions.
Om Prakash Chouhan (67) was tied 11th, while 19-year-old Karandeep Kochhar (67), who won a pro event while being an amateur, was 14th.
Veer Ahlawat (69), M. Dharma (65), Aman Raj (69) and Sunit Chowrasia (69), nephew of SSP Chawrasia, were all at the tied 15th spot on seven-under 206 total.