Rafiq Ali sizzles

V Krishnaswamy

NEW DELHI, Oct 31: In Calcutta this March, when Feroz Ali, his brother became only the second Indian pro to win the Indian Open, his brother Rafiq was watching it unconcealed glee. But this afternoon, while his brother is away abroad playing elsewhere, there was a different kind of a gleam when he came of the course after having literally burnt it with a birdie spree that saw him come out with a flawless round that had seven birdies to boot. The course record equalling effort of seven under 65 -- the 1996 winner David Carter also had a 65 at this course -- shot catapulted him into the lead after 54 holes and there is just one more round between him and the Rs. 4.66 lakh prize and the Honda City car that comes along for the winner of the Honda- Siel PGA AGC championships.

Rafiq is one stroke ahead of a trio that can give any leader a nightmare. Shiv Prakash, twice winner on the Tour this year, Jyoti Randhawa, who has always had good results at this course, and Uttam Singh Mundy, who already has one Honda carwhich he won three years back at the same tournament, are one stroke behind at 209.

Scores after 36 holes (cut applied at eight over 152; 46 pros and one amateur made the cut): 208: Rafiq Ali (73, 70, 65); 209: Shiv Prakash (71, 69, 69), Jyoti Randhawa (71, 70, 68), Uttam Singh Mundy (70, 71, 68); 210: Vijay Kumar (72, 69, 69); 216: Pappan (71, 73, 72), Gaurav Ghei (73, 72, 71); 217: Amandeep Johl (70, 73, 74), Jeev Milkha Singh (72, 71, 74), Basad Ali (73, 72, 72); 218: Mohd. Maqbool (74, 70, 74), Ali Sher (72, 72, 74); Daniel Chopra (75, 70, 73), Mukesh Kumar (73, 73, 72), Vivek Bhandari (73, 73, 72); 219: Amritinder Singh (71, 73, 75), Indrajit Bhalotia (70, 76, 73), Vishal Singh (72, 75, 72); 220: SSP Chowrasia (76, 72, 72), Jumman (73, 75, 72); 221: Sanjay Kumar (75, 74, 72); 222: Binod Pandey (74, 76, 72), Gast Ram (77, 75, 70).

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