Kartik Sharma all but secured victory in the IGU Yes Bank Karnataka Junior Boys Golf Championship as his rivals courted disaster in the penultimate round here on Thursday.

West Bengal’s Kartik stayed steady while most of the contenders found the going extremely tough at the Eagleton Golf Resort, managing a respectable one-under 71 for a total of 209. But with second-placed Harshjeet Singh Sethie carding a shocking five-over 77, Kartik now sits comfortably atop the leaderboard with a 10-shot cushion in Category A&B combined. Raghav Chugh shot a 72 to share the third place with Adilbir Singh (77) at 221.

Seeing his playing partners struggle from the onset, teenager Kartik figured that the best way to approach the round was percentage golf and he played within himself to put himself on the threshold of a third victory of the season. After parring the opening six holes, he bogeyed the seventh before negating that damage immediately with a birdie on the very next hole. His second half almost mirrored that of the first, except that he finished at one-under following a birdie on the 16th.

Leading sores (after 54 holes): Category A&B: 209: Kartik Sharma (70, 68, 71); 219: Harshjeet Singh Sethie (69, 73, 77); 221: Raghav Chugh (77, 72, 72), Adilbir Singh (71, 73, 77).
Category B: 221: Ragahv Chugh; 225: Pratyush Sharma (78, 75, 72), Yashvardhan Singh (77, 74, 74).
Category C (after 36 holes): 142: Milind Soni (71, 71); 145: Aryan Singh (75, 70); 149: Sudaay Chaloo (73, 76).

Sharma all but certain to win title