Lahiri and Chikka set up intriguing final day duel at Venetian Maccao Open  10:23, 17/10/2016

 Chikkarangappa S. of India pictured during the round three of Venetian Macau Open 2016 at the Macao Golf & Country Club, Macao. Pix by Asian Tour

Lahiri, the reigning Asian Tour number one, and Chikkarangappa carded matching two-under-par 69s in the third round at the Macau Golf and Country Club to jointly lead the US$1.1 million Asian Tour tournament on 10-under-par 203.

Anirban Lahiri of India pictured during the round three of Venetian Macau Open 2016 at the Macao Golf & Country Club, Macao. Pix by Asian Tour

All eyes will be on Lahiri and Chikkarangappa, who grew up together in Bangalore. Being six years older, Lahiri, 29, has already achieved immense success with seven Asian Tour wins and now plying his trade mainly in the United States while the latter is bidding for a maiden Asian Tour title.

“It’ll be tough. Chikka is a fierce competitor, I know it. It’ll be good to battle it out with him. But it’s not just me and him as there are so many guys in it. Anybody who shoots 63 or 64 has a chance to win. You can’t rule anyone out,” said Lahiri, winner of the Venetian Macao Open in 2014 and runner-up in 2013 and last year.

In-form Chikkarangappa, who has enjoyed two top-10s in as many weeks, overcame a double bogey on 11 with three birdies soon after to keep himself in the title hunt against his mentor. “We’re brothers,” said the 23-year-old Chikka, whose best finish on the Asian Tour to date was tied fourth in Bangladesh earlier this year. “Anirban moved from Hyderbad to Bangalore and I’m the village boy and he didn’t know the local language and we became friends. I would help him to buy groceries and we would practice together and kept motivating each other.

Rattanon, 21, produced the day’s best of 65 with one eagle and six birdies. Like Chikkarangappa, he is also chasing a first win on the Asian Tour and was inspired when his regular Tour roommate Poom Saksansin broke through in Indonesia last weekend.

Big-hitting Pavit, the 2014 Asian Development Tour number one, is also eager to break through and at the same honour the late king of Thailand, King Bhumibol, who died on Thursday night.

After a triple bogey on 10, former Ryder Cup star Poulter gallantly fought back with three birdies but was kicking himself for missing a closing birdie on the last hole, a par five. He is not discounting himself out of the title race, especially after an opening 64 on Thursday.

For more details on the Venetian Macao Open, please visit: www.thevenetianmacaoopen.com.

Scores after round 3 of the Venetian Macau Open 2016 being played at the par 71, 6,606 Yards Macau GCC course (am - denotes amateur):

203 - Anirban LAHIRI (IND) 66-68-69, Chikkarangappa S. (IND) 69-65-69.

204 - Rattanon WANNASRICHAN (THA) 68-71-65, Rashid KHAN (IND) 69-69-66, Pavit TANGKAMOLPRASERT (THA) 69-67-68, Carlos PIGEM (ESP) 64-71-69, Sutijet KOORATANAPISAN (THA) 68-66-70.

205 - Chapchai NIRAT (THA) 65-71-69.

206 - CHAN Shih-chang (TPE) 71-69-66, Miguel TABUENA (PHI) 67-69-70, Kalem RICHARDSON (AUS) 67-67-72.

207 - Antonio LASCUNA (PHI) 71-67-69, Rahil GANGJEE (IND) 68-69-70.

208 - Pariya JUNHASAVASDIKUL (THA) 71-70-67, Alex CEJKA (GER) 68-73-67, Javi COLOMO (ESP) 70-68-70, Ian POULTER (ENG) 64-73-71.

209 - Rory HIE (INA) 77-65-67, LIEN Lu-sen (TPE) 73-69-67, Jeunghun WANG (KOR) 74-67-68, LIANG Wen-chong (CHN) 71-70-68, Johannes VEERMAN (USA) 70-71-68, Jyoti RANDHAWA (IND) 69-71-69, DOU Ze-cheng (CHN) 71-68-70, Seukhyun BAEK (KOR) 70-69-70, Minkyu HAN (KOR) 69-69-71, CAO Yi (CHN) 69-69-71, Scott HEND (AUS) 71-67-71, Shankar DAS (IND) 70-67-72.