Subash Ghising displays the scorecard after having a Hole-in-One on the 17th hole during the third round of the Surya Nepal Kathmandu Open at the Royal Nepal Golf Club in Kathmandu on Thursday. Photo: THT

Kathmandu, April 5

Bhuwan Nagarkoti extended the lead to four strokes after the third round of the Surya Nepal Kathmandu Open here at the Royal Nepal Golf Club today.

Nagarkoti, who was one stroke ahead of Bikash Adhikari after the second round, carded even-par 68 and still managed to take a four-shot lead over top pro Shivaram Shrestha going into the final round. Nepal No 1 pro Shrestha moved up to second after playing a round of even-par 68.

Nagarkoti took the turn at two-under 32 that included birdies on the first and fourth holes. He then shot two-over 36 on the back nine after he dropped three shots on the last five holes against a birdie on the 12th.

Top pro Shrestha began the day with an OB (Out of Bounds) and faced a double bogey seven on the first hole. But he recovered to post one-under 33 on the front nine with the help of birdies on the second, fourth and seventh holes. He kept the momentum going with birdies on the 10th and 13th holes but again faced a double bogey on the 14th and a bogey on the final hole to finish the back nine at one-over 35.

Adhikari shot six-over 84 and slipped to joint third with Jayaram Shrestha (72), while defending champion Rame Magar, who had a forgettable round of 76 on Wednesday, bounced back today, carding one-under 67 to climb up to fifth at five-over 209.

Rabi Khadka, who had two OBs, settled for a five-over 73 and was at sixth position with the score of six-over 210. Veteran pro Deepak Thapa Magar was further two shots behind at seventh after he shot one-over 69, one shot ahead of Surya Prasad Sharma, who played three-over 71. Bhuwan Kumar Rokka (70) was ninth at 214 and Ramesh Nagarkoti was 10th at 217 after he played four-over 72.