TheSportsCampus

While the country was at a standstill, the third day of the Toyota-IGU Southern India Juniors, being held at the Karnataka Golf Association,Bengaluru from May 29-31,2012, provided all the excitement needed with a new contender Arjun Singh from Dhaula Kuan Army Golf Course emerging as the sole leader in the combined under-14 and under-18 categories, With a total score of 223 (77-75-71) at the end of 54 holes, he is one stroke ahead of ITC Classic Golf Resort's Shubhankar Sharma while Aman Raj(Patna Golf Club) & Piyush Sangwan (DLF Golf and Country Club) are tied for the third position with a total score of 225.

18-year-old Arjun Singh, who was brilliant in patches over the first two days, played a consistently good game on the penultimate day of the tournament, carding a one under par-71 to take the lead. The Toyota Etios Eastern India Juniors winner Shubankar Sharma, who finished day 2 as the leader in the under-18 category, had a 1 over par 73 on the day to finish second with a score of 224 (75, 76, 73). Aman Raj, from Patna Golf Club also had a good day on the greens as he carded a 71 to tie for the third position along with Gurgaon's 13-year-old sensation Piyush Sangwan. Local hope, Yashas Chandra from Mysore who had snatched the lead on day 1, scored an 8-over 80 on the third day for a total score of 232 putting him in the tenth position at the end of 54 holes.

Speaking about his performance that has put him in contention for the title, a palpably excited Arjun said, "I played some pretty good shots today. I made 2 bogeys initially, but I covered up with birdies in the first nine holes and also had a good back nine score." About the pressure of heading into the tough final day of the competition as one of the contenders, Arjun opined, "I am feeling pretty nice because I had a good day today. The pressure has eased to some extent as I am a stroke ahead. My plan for tomorrow is to play according to the situation and see how it goes."

As the strongly competitive Toyota-IGU Southern India Juniors is headed to the final day, KGA is all set to witness even more intense competition as the best Indian juniors golfers battle for a shot at the title. The Toyota IGU Junior Tour is always the most competitive because the tournaments are contested over four rounds of 18 holes each, on par with the biggest junior tournaments in the world. Points earned on the IGU tour determine rankings through which the IGU makes selections for tournaments like the Asia-Pacific Junior Championship in Thailand which was played last August. The prestigious international Duke of York Tournament invites players by virtue of winning the Toyota IGU All India Junior Championship. Selections are also made for the Malaysian Junior Open in September. So the tour opens up a huge number of opportunities for the top juniors.