Just when it seemed like the continuously lively top of the Indian Open leaderboard had finally found direction, there came more confusion. C Muniyappa’s big smile after sinking his birdie putt on the finishing hole to take a one-shot lead from the muddle of names going up and down throughout the afternoon was, for just a while, put on hold.

Just as Muniyappa was finishing his round, phone calls to tournament officials complained of the Bangalore player having touched the sand with his club while trying to remove a chocolate wrapper from the bunker on the 18th hole. It was a long wait for Muniyappa in the scorers’ tent as officials examined video evidence. The story’s ending was happy for the 32-year-old, who was cleared to sign on a card of one-under 71, giving him a three-day total of 10-under 206.

In second place, just a shot back, are five names, Indians Digvijay Singh and Harendra Gupta, the second round’s joint leader Lee Sung, and Australian Marcus Both. And just another shot behind are three more names, making the last round completely wide open.

The hyperactivity of the leaderboard was mirrored in most of the top names’ rounds. Nerves had joined Muniyappa for the start of his round as he missed small birdie putts on the first and third holes. On the fifth, iffy putting gave him a bogey, and that seemed to wake him up. He made three straight birdies right after to get to two-under, and though there were two bogeys on the back nine, the birdie finish made the big difference.

... contd.