Vijay Kumar grabs the lead

Vijay Kumar, winner of the Order of Merit on the Wills Sport Golf Tour for last three seasons, looked all set for his second title of the season when he shot a four-under 68 on the penultimate day of the Rs 750,000 Surya Nepal Masters to open a two-stroke lead over the second-placed Mukesh Kumar.

At the par-72 Gokarna Forest Golf Resort on Friday, Vijay tallied 10-under 206 for three days, while Mukesh, Player of the Year last season, jumped up to second place with the day's best card of six-under 66, thus matching the course record set by Vijay on Thursday.

Nepal's Deepak Acharya was a picture of consistency and shot a level-par 72 to stay put at third place with a 54-hole aggregate of four-under 212.

Overnight leader Uttam Singh Mundy had a terrible day at the course as he shot a seven-over 79 to slip down to tied sixth place along with Delhi's Pappan at one-under 215.

Shiv Prakash was fourth at three-under 213, while another Nepali pro, Deepak Thapa Magar was fourth at two-under 214.

Vijay, struggling with his putter for the third successive day but exceptional off the tee, started with a par and made a three-putt bogey on the second. On the par-5 third, he reached the green in two and made a birdie, then drove 20 feet past the pin on the 365-yard par-4 fourth and made another birdie which was negated by a three-putt bogey on the sixth. On the seventh, he reached the par-5 green in two and two-putted for a birdie and then unleashed a bit of magic on the par-3 eighth where he sank a 30-footer for birdie. On the ninth, he missed a four-footer birdie putt to make the turn at two-under which gave him a four-stroke lead over the overnight leader Uttam Singh Mundy.

On the back nine, Vijay had another three-putt for par on the par-5 12th before making birdies on the 13th, 15th and 18th, where he almost spun back the ball into the hole for an eagle from 80 yards, and a bogey on the 14th to finish at four-under 68.

"I have nothing to say. I am hitting the ball like a dream, but my putting is atrocious. I needed 33 putts to complete my round today. Simply put, that's bad golf. Thankfully, my hitting has been saving me and I hope it remains that way tomorrow if I have to win the second title of the season," said Vijay, whose last victory was at the season-opening Hindu Open in Chennai in August.

Mukesh finished with a flourish by doing what Vijay could not. He holed his 90-yard second shot with a sandwedge on the par-4 18th hole, which proved to be a perfect icing on his earlier six birdies and two bogies. Both the bogies came because of three-putts, but he also made some long putts during the round.

"It's going to be an interesting battle with Vijay tomorrow. I saw his hitting today and it was awesome. I just hope that my putting evens out things between us," said Mukesh.

Acharya, who represented Nepal this year at the Asia Nations Cup at Chegu Islands, made a birdie on the third hole, but drove into the right jungle for a double bogey on the very next hole. A birdie on the seventh was followed by bogies on the eighth and ninth as the talented Nepali pro made the turn at two-over. On the back nine, Acharya recovered well to finish at level-par 72.

Deepak Thapa Magar, winner of Surya Nepal Western and Eastern Open, shot a one-under 71. He played the first 11 holes to par before making an three birdies and two bogies on next five holes.

GANGJEE LEADS AMATEURS: India's No 1 amateur, Rahil Gangjee, shot his second successive three-under 69 to lead the amateur's section with a three-day tally of six-over 222. Gangjee led the second-placed Bijesh Shahi by a massive margin of 11 strokes.

SCORES (after 54 holes): 206 _ Vijay Kumar (72,66,68); 208 _ Mukesh Kumar (69,73,66); 212 _ Deepak Acharya (70,70,72); 213 _ Shiv Prakash (72,70,71); 214 _ Deepak Thapa Magar (74,69,71); 215 _ Pappan (71,72,72), Uttam Singh Mundy (69,67,79); 218 _ Ajay Gupta (74,74,70), Sanjay Kumar (70,78,70), Rohtas Singh (76,72,70), Amish Jaitha (74,74,70), 219 _ Zai Kipgen (71,78,70); 220 _ Rahul Ganapathy (71,75,74); 222 _ Vinod Kumar (78,74,70), Rafiq Ali (78,73,71), Monish Bindra (75,73,74)

Amateurs: 222 _ Rahil Gangjee (84,69,69); 233 _ Bijesh Shahi (80,77,76); 237 _ CB Bhandari (80,81,76); 248 _ Mani Rai (79,77,92).